Tribal Tribune: If you were going
to go to a foreign country, where
would you go and why?
Huger: Probably Español, any part of
Mexico, just to see how it is. To have
fun, and see the waters.
TT: Where do you see yourself in
10 years?
JH: Probably living here in the Lowcountry with a good family and making a large amount of money.
TT: If you could bring three things
to a desert island, what would you
bring?
JH: My cell phone, my laptop and my
computer.
TT: How would you describe your
style?
JH: I would say my style is probably a
white boy/black boy swag.
TT: What advice would you give
to someone who is younger than
you?
JH: Go hard. Do everything full steam
ahead and don’t slack off because
if you don’t, it will just have a bad
impact.
TT: What qualities do you think
make a good friend?
JH: Honest, nice, responsible, funny.
TT: If you had three wishes what
would they be?
JH: First, it’d be unlimited wishes.
Second would be for kids not to go
hungry, and third to have a better
economy.

How
to...
change a tire

Tribal People 03
Have you ever been stranded on the side
of the road with a flat tire, clueless about
what to do next? Tribal Tribune staffer
Devon Barkley is here to help.

by devon barkley

1. Remove any hub

5. Insert and hand

2. Position the jack

6. Insert the rest of

3. Loosen the lugs

7. Lower the vehicle

cap or wheel cover.
Then loosen the
wheel lugs with the
lug wrench to hand
tighten while the
vehicle is still on the
ground.
and raise the vehicle
so that the tire is entirely off the ground
with an inch or so
separating it from the
pavement.

the rest of the way
and remove them
completely.

4. Remove the old

wheel, then place the
new wheel on the
vehicle.

SCAN
with your

PHONE

tighten two or three
of the lugs to hold the
wheel in place.

the lugs and tighten
them enough to hold
the wheel on the vehicle.

to the ground, making
sure the tire holds air.
If it looks low on air,
be sure to fill it up as
soon as possible.

8. Tighten the lugs

with the lug wrench as
much as possible.

link to whstribe.com to view additional pictures of sports events, performances and school
activites. Also see additional stories, sports and
reviews. A database of the year’s TribeTalks and
Tribal Tribunes are on the whstribe.com as well.

11.16.11

04 Tribal News

Are you putting away your
personal money for college?

No

52%
48%
48%

Yes

What is the source of
most of your money?

Part time job ( <35 hours)
Parents

35%

Babysitting

36%
3%

other

8%

51%
21%
have a job outside of school

24%
4%

47%

have no job outside of shool

53%

-illistration by josie maszk

$15 +

$10 to $15

$8 to $9

Minimum wage to $8

Full time job (35+ hours)

18%

11.16.11

Resolving the issue

Parent advisory note resolves
Hunt Club controversy
emilee kutyla

writing editor

After months of continued appeals, the controversy
surrounding Brett Lott’s novel The Hunt Club is over, with
a unanimous decision to have the novel remain on the
recommended summer reading list for juniors.
The hearing, which took place Oct. 25 at the Charleston County School Board headquarters located on 75 Calhoun Street, was first surrounded by some confusion as to
why the hearing was even taking place. The original complaint made against The Hunt Club criticized the novel for
its use of perverse language and violence as well as other
material that was deemed inappropriate.
Five members of the board sat with the understanding that the novel was under deliberation to be taken off
of the reading list, something the parents filing the complaint later denied.
Stephanie Ganaway-Pasley, who first protested the
book, said her main purpose was to get parental disclaimers placed on reading books to guide book choices. Pasley,
who reads all of the books assigned to her child, said she
believed violent situations and graphic language were offensive.
Pasley said she was not aware of the original decision
to add disclaimers to the 2011-2012 summer reading lists,
and that the whole cycle of the appeal did not fairly include her into the decision.
“There was not due process, we tried to resolve this
issue on the local level of school, but we were not given
the opportunity to do that,” Pasley said. “A meeting was

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called, a committee was gathered, and we were left out of
it completely. We were simply sent an email about the outcome, and we felt that that was not fair.”
After the statements of both Pasley and media specialist Emilie Woody were made, the board debated the issue.
Unanimously, the board agreed the novel should remain
on reading lists, but agreed with the parents by saying there
should be a more explicit disclaimer on all lists telling parents about the contents of each book.
Pasley said she is pleased with the outcome of the
hearing, but believes the matter could have been settled
earlier had there been more communication.
“I feel that the outcome is positive because from the
very beginning that is what we wanted,” Pasley said, “a
disclaimer on the reading material that is assigned to the
students.”
Woody, who has been apart of the controversy from
the very beginning is satisfied by the Board’s decision, but
is confused as to how the School Board is going to place the
disclaimers on reading lists.
“I’m not sure how that disclaimer thing is going to
work out. They are going to have to decide what they feel
like that means, and who decides what’s said about what
book,” Woody said.
“I think that is going to be a bigger process than they
imagined. I’m pleased that we get to keep it.”
Lott, the author who also teaches at the College of
Charleston, is relieved as well by the outcome, and glad
that the controversy surrounding his novel is over.
“I think it’s good, I think it’s a good solution. I think
it’s getting hard to figure out who it is that gets to decide
what the disclaimer says,” Lott said. “It’s an ever-expanding
circle of who gets to make the choice for that, but I think it’s
appropriate. Every book better be read thoroughly.”

Tribal News 05

Board approves
Middle College
elizabeth levi

co-writing editor

After a month-long controversy over giving final
architectural approval to Wando’s Middle College, the
Charleston County School Board voted 6-2 in favor of
continuing with the architectural design contract Nov.
14.
The meeting, held at the CCSD School Board meeting room, was attended by a large enough crowd in support of the Middle College that 30 people had to watch
from the lobby. Many held signs urging the board to pass
the vote.
This was the second vote the school board held for
the continuation of the Middle College contract. The
previous Oct. 10 vote was tied 4-4, holding up the project. Though school board member Ann Oplinger did
not attend the Oct. 10 meeting, she was present at the
Nov. 14 meeting and voted in favor of the college. Board
member Mary Ann Taylor resigned her seat earlier in
the day and did not attend the meeting.
Board members Elizabeth Moffly and Elizabeth
Kandrac both voted against the contract, as they had at
the previous meeting. Moffly said she is opposed to enlarging the already overcrowded Wando.
Principal Lucy Beckham, though, said she is pleased
with the vote.
“It’s a great victory for Mount Pleasant,” she said.
“So many parents and representatives of the town were
there. I could not have been prouder of all of them.”
The Middle College is planned to be completed in
2014.

Colorguard
junior Caroline Thomas
and drumline
members
junior Everett
Engstrom,
sophomore
Andrew Kilby
and junior
Rudy Box in
the marching
show at State
on Nov. 5.

Senior Diego Farias
competed with the
Columbia Math Circle,
made up of members
of the S.C. State Math
Team. As part of the
B team, Farias came
in 11th place out of 62
teams from across the
East Coast at the Duke
Math Meet Nov. 12.
“Math is my favorite. It
is like a sport,” he said.

Junior Jack Meagher
competed in the Duke
Math Meet Nov. 12,
finishing 11th as part of
the Columbia Math Circle B team. “It’s a really
prestigious competition.
With the A team coming
in first and the B team
finishing 11th, it was a
serious victory for S.C.,”
Meagher said.

Senior Bogdan Bordieanu, as part of
the Columbia Math
Circle, finished 11th
out of 62 teams at
the Duke Math Meet
Nov. 12. “It was
very entertaining; it
was a great experience. The school
was beautiful,”
Bordieanu said.

Senior David
Leggett is the
Wando nominee for
the Morehead-Cain
scholarship. “It’s
a big deal to get
nominated for the
Morehead, and so
I was really excited
that I would get the
chance to apply,” he
said.

SEAN BARNETT / staff photographer

06 Tribal News

Band finishes strong
With six straight state championships, a lot of pressure
was riding on the Wando marching band when it arrived
in Orangeburg Nov. 5 for the South Carolina Band Directors Association Competition. But for the seventh straight
year, the band took home the first place trophy. Boiling
Springs was second, and Lexington was third.
Band director Scott Rush said he felt the same sense
of pride, especially after the band’s appearance at the state
competition.
“I was very proud of our students on Saturday night.
They had two wonderful performances. When you perform, what you hope is that you speak to the audience, and
I think that happened this weekend,” he said.
The band’s final performance of the year came in the
Bands of America Grand National Championship, held
in Indianapolis Nov. 11-12. The band finished 12th in the
prestigious tournament.
“There were 93 bands from around the country, with
bands from Texas to Oklahoma, and we made it into the
top 12,” percussion teacher Jeff Handle said. “I’m very

‘Tons of hope’

Senior Fletcher Williams is the Wando
nominee for the Jefferson Scholarship for the
University of Virginia.
“It’s an exciting opportunity and it’s definitely
a big plus for a chance
to get into an out-ofstate college,” Williams
said.

Senior Madeline
Chitty received the
October Jefferson
Award for Community Service for her
work with veterans.
“I was really surprised. To me it’s not
just volunteer work,
it’s something I want
to do,” she said.

Exceptional education teacher Mark Abrams realized
about four years ago that there was nothing Wando was
doing for the needy during the holidays. So he decided to
contact ECCO, East Cooper Community Outreach, and
started “Tons of Hope” at Wando. In conjunction with the
Key Club this fall, Abrams is working to help ECCO, an
emergency food bank that helps the needy in East of the
Cooper.
ECCO provides clothing, food, education and budgeting courses that lead to a GED, job skill classes, pro
bono legal services, furniture and dental as well as medical clinics.
Students may donate non-perishable food items outside rooms B-111, C-207 or in the media center between
7:40 a.m. and 3 p.m. until Nov. 21.
“Help us help our own!” Abrams said.

proud of them, both because of the leadership of the upperclassmen as well as the growth and improvement of all
the underclassmen who came in not knowing anything
about marching band, and just seeing how much they’ve
grown and have become very valued members of the ensemble.”
Senior drum major Korey Whitmore agreed. “It felt
really good knowing we were 12th in the nation, because
not too many can say that,” he said. “It was a lot of work to
get there and I’m really proud of the band.”
Expectations going into the competition were set
high, since the band had just received their seventh consecutive state championship. “The week of rehearsals going into state were grueling and really tough, so we expected to do well based on the rehearsals that we had,” senior
Colin Morris said. “It was relieving because four years of
hard work finally paid off. I was happy, of course, but I was
also kind of sad because I knew that I wasn’t going to be
able to experience it again. It was bittersweet.”
-- haley brimmer

Varsity cheer heads to state

The varsity cheer team placed third in the Lowerstate qualifier Nov. 8, scoring a 254 out of 300 and beating
Stratford for the first time all season. The top four cheer
squads in the competition move on to the state championship, which will be held Nov. 19 at the Bi-Lo Center in
Greenville.

Drama takes second in state

The Drama Honors Ensemble placed second Nov. 13
in the South Carolina Theatre Association’s competition
for high school one-act plays. This year’s play, Radium
Girls, was a true story of young girls who fought for their
justice after being instructed by their employer to put radioactive paint on their lips. The play earned Wando not
only second place for the second year in a row, but a spot
in the regional competition in March in Chattanooga,
Tenn.

11.16.11

MAPping out the class
Computer testing
geared to help
teachers help students
sarah russell

staff writer
Twice a year, freshmen and sophomores find themselves in front of a computer, answering roughly 50 questions per
section and spending what may seem like
valuable time away from instruction.
But Measurement of Academic Progress testing, better known as MAP testing, is a computerized adaptive test which
helps students, teachers and administrators by showing students’ progress, according to Assistant Principal Brenda
Corley.
“Teachers use data gathered from
MAP testing as a diagnostic tool, which
points to instructional assistance,” she
said. “It helps teachers focus on what each
individual student needs and gives teachers information on how to better guide
instruction for students.”

Math teacher Larry Crosswell also
The tests are not timed, but they take
an average of one hour to complete each found MAP test scores valuable when recruiting Quiz Bowl Team members, “giving
section.
“It is for both teachers and students to me an idea of who the brightest freshmen
see how they progress, not just from year to are, which is useful since I usually do not
year, but from semester to semester,” Eng- teach freshmen,” he said.
Though the MAP test is a valuable imlish teacher Angele Robertson said. “It’s to
plement, there are
establish
drawbacks to the
that they
program.
are in fact
“I think that
pro g re s s they are not the
ing and [it’s
Assistant Principal Brenda Corely best way to meato show]
sure a student’s
where they
may be struggling specifically, because it performance, because they just have differbreaks down for us vocabulary, grammar, ent variables that aren’t the same as classorganization, reading comprehension… it’s room settings,” sophomore Grace Glenn
said. “You’re in different circumstances.
not just an overall progression.”
MAP scores are also helpful when You might be having an off day. It’s not as
placing students in specific classes, accord- reflective of your performance as it could
ing to AP Geography teacher Jason Brisini. be.”
Some believe that the content does not
“In my AP Human Geography class,
we take the English MAP scores from [stu- correspond to the students’ level of knowldents’] eighth grade year, and they have to edge.
“What if you have math first semester
set a certain point value or else they don’t
so you do really well in the fall, but you
qualify for the class,” he said.

It helps teachers focus on

what each individual needs.

Tribal News 07

don’t have it second semester and then
your grade drops in the spring, when it’s
supposed to be going up?” sophomore
Kristen Stottler said.
Corley said students should beware
of taking the test too lightly.
“Take the test seriously and give it
your best,” she said. “MAP won’t help your
teacher help you if the data you give it is
not valid.”
Brisini and Robertson both have
ideas for improvements on the MAP test.
“By the time the kids get to [Question] 40, they’re kind of trailing off and
staring at the ceiling… so I think maybe
30 questions would be better,” Brisini said.
“It would take away less class time too.”
Moving the date for testing is another
solution for the loss of class time.
“I think MAP testing should be done
before school starts, when the kids come
to register and pick up their textbooks.
So we still get the benefit, we still get the
tool, they get to see where they are – but
we don’t lose class instruction time,” Robertson said.

‘It’s about being a student here’
08 Tribal Features

Teacher reaches out
to English as Second
Language students
caitie armstrong

staff writer
There is a care-free and spirited nature
about Susan Kern, the English for Speakers of Other Languages teacher at Wando.
She has the air of a renegade, the patience
of a mother and the passion of a fighter.
Kern’s route into ESOL teaching was
an unconventional one. After 22 years of
teaching English in Charleston County,
she ran away to Shanghai. In 2005, she
found herself unhappy with policies enacted by the school system.
“The pressure to teach to the test was
getting worse and worse and worse, in
my opinion, and I finally got off my high
horse, and I’d been saying, ‘I’m gonna do
this, and I’m gonna do that.’ Well I finally
did it, and I went overseas, and I taught
[English] at an international school,” Kern
said of her move.
At the international school, Kern instantly noticed that the students -- many
of them having made multiple moves
throughout their lives -- truly enjoyed
school because it was one constant in their
lives.
“It’s a totally different experience for
me, coming from public school teaching
where only your top five percent of the
kids are like that. All of the kids are like
that there,” Kern said.
“They love,
love, love school, so
it was great. And
so that just lit
me on fire
again for
teach-

Kern returned to the U.S. with unconventional plans. “I was going to massage
horses because I’m also a horse person,
and I got trained to be a massage therapist for horses…And I was just going be a
gypsy,” she said.
But a phone call changed her plans.
“My former principal…called me
and said, ‘I really want you to be a teacher
coach,’ and so over a three-hour lunch she
talked me into being a teacher coach,” she
said.
But hroughout her career, she had
shied away from formulaic teaching methods and focused on the individual student,
she said.
“I didn’t want to have to drive teachers and tell teachers that they had to collect
all this data and pay attention to the MAP
scores and keep shoving that stuff down
their throats when that was the very reason
I left,” she said.
So Kern became a different kind of
teacher coach. “I became this advocate
for teachers, and I went to try to go into
their classrooms as much as I could to help
them teach classes, and I looked at it like,
you know what, if I can teach your class,
and it gives you a break to go grade papers,
fine. I don’t care if you model what I’m doing…Let me help if I can.”
During this time at West Ashley Middle School, Kern slowly became involved
with the ESOL program to provide some
relief for the ESOL teacher stretched between students and schools, and when the
ESOL teacher left her position, Kern applied.
Now, four years into her ESOL
teaching, Kern has found a
perfect fit. Her free spirit
creeps into her teaching

style as she teaches groups of five to 10 students, fitting in cultural aspects from time
to time. Explaining Halloween to her students, she said, “It’s just a day of silliness
for us.” She stops herself. “Silly. Do you
know the word ‘silly?’ Silly. Let me show
you silly.”
She then contorts her arms and face to
demonstrate silly to her group of students
who chuckle at their teacher’s behavior.
Still not sure that her Asian students understand the word, she prompts them to
pull out an iPhone to plug the word “silly”
into a translator app.
For Kern, the challenge is not only
teaching English but creating an environment where students can make friends
across language barriers.
“The beginning of the day, every day,
we start out together in a circle, so nobody
has their back to each other, and we call
each other by name. It’s not about being
Japanese or Spanish-speaking. It’s about
being a student here,” she said.
And these students need support from
each other to learn in a different language.
“The hardest thing about ESOL, I think especially for the teachers, is to understand
that their cognitive ability is…everything
between average and gifted and talented,
just like our kids, but their language is so
limited. I don’t even say ‘poor’ because
it’s not poor. It’s just limited. And
because the language is so limited, it’s hard for students
to demonstrate and articulate critical thinking
skills.”
Education
laws require accommodations

KRISTEN POPOVICH

KRISTEN POPOVICH / staff

ing.”

11.16.11

be made for ESOL students, and no student may fail a course if language is the
cause. After 22 years of teaching, Kern
sympathizes with the regular subject
teachers of ESOL students.
“I know from my own experience,
I’ve got 30 kids in front of me…I don’t
know how to deal with this kid that
doesn’t speak English,” she said. “And
that’s a pretty normal reaction from
teachers, and they don’t have time.”
In short, Kern once again finds herself an advocate. She must help the students who can’t learn, the teachers who
can’t teach and the students who are here
illegally. “One of the challenges for undocumented students is that they have
nowhere to go when they graduate,” Kern
said. Illegal immigrants cannot join the
military, go to college or gain employment, meaning that the career options for
most students are closed off.
“We can all argue the political end of
it. Yes, of course our border needs to be
more secure, but we’ve got these people
here,” she said. “It wasn’t their choice, and
the stuff they’ve been through — none
of us can understand some of the situations they’ve been through…Instead of
doing fire drills and things like that, they
do these drills where…everybody’s got
to hit the floor and put their hands over
their head…because of the drug…cartels
and gangs coming in and just, you know,
shooting out classrooms of kids. That’s
what they’re used to.”
“That’s the kind of stuff I get really
passionate about…These kids deserve
a chance because of what they’ve been
through and what their parents have gone
through to get them here,” she added. “I
just try to get people to understand
that the political issue is one thing,
and this is not related to that.”

ESOL
teacher
Susan
Kern
(center)
works with
studentsin her
English as
Second
Language
classroom.
Kern has
her students sit
in a circle
so they
can work
together.

11.16.11

Tribal Features 09

Student moves to America and
within five years, she is at the
top of the intellectual ladder

Yafan and Yazhou Dong are the closest of brothers.
Twins, born and raised in Fouzhou, China, the two look
nearly identical, but there are small differences between
the two. Yafan’s bangs grow long into his face, and he is
more outspoken than his brother. They speak with heavy
accents and limited vocabulary but can converse surprisingly well for two native Mandarin speakers.
Their immersion has been slow. In 2007, they moved
to Pennsylvania to join their father who had been living
and working in the U.S. since 2000. After a year in Pennsylvania, they moved to New York. There they found a culture similar to home, living in China Town and attending
a bilingual school. But being able to use their native tongue
as a fallback they say hurt them in the long run. Being able
to speak Mandarin at home and at school meant they
hardly used English.
But before their freshman year of high school, they
moved down to Charleston to be with their uncle who
owns Flaming Wok, a Chinese restaurant on Coleman
Boulevard. The twins are budding salesmen, always carrying a take-out menu for the restaurant.
They live apart from their parents, but talk to them
frequently.

“They will call and use the telephone to ask us are we
eating every day,” Yafan said.
They both also say that the hardest part of the move is
not separation from their parents but the language barrier.
If they were being educated in their native language,
“Learning would be easier,” Yafan said.
Teachers make accommodations to help them work.
In English class, “the teacher tells me get the book to
do go to the line to translation the word,” Yafan said. Their
English for speakers of other languages teacher places special emphasis on literary terms and English literary devices.
But by helping each other, the burden is lessened.
“We [are] just brothers. [We] talk to each other,” Yafan said. Both brothers say that classwork is easier with the
other’s help.
The twins have no idea what the future may hold for
them and whether that involves a return to China. “Fifteen
is too young,” Yazhou said.
They insisted for the next couple of years they will
focus on their high school studies and consult their parents on a further course of work or study. But for now, the
twins are adapting to American culture, taking up a love
for American inventions like toaster waffles and Spongebob Squarepants.

FreshmenYanfan and Yazou Dong study together during
the English as a Second Language class.

staff writer
Junior Tommi Nagumo blends in effortlessly
among the students at Wando. With her hands tucked
inside the pockets of her hoodie, she walks down the
hallway with a fact that is concealed by her perfectly
spoken English. Five years ago, she moved from her
birthplace of Tokyo, Japan to Charleston.
Nagumo has come a long way from her first year
in America when she knew very little English. Five
years of intensive study later and she has a 4.9 GPA
is ranked number eight in her class. She is a member
of National Honors Society, the girls’ basketball team
and the girls’ tennis team.
Within the span of five years, Nagumo learned to
speak English with the same casualness as any native born teenager.
She didn’t start some scratch
with the language, however, since
Nagumo did have a bi-cultural
advantage; she is the daughter of a
Japanese father and an American
mother.
“Because this is where my mom grew up, I actually have a large family in Charleston,” she said. “Since
I was a baby, I visited every summer with my mom.”
Yet the permanent move to Charleston proved
to be radically different from occasional visits. “The
problem was that I’ve only experienced the ‘funness’ of America during the summer breaks. I didn’t
know anything outside of that,” Nagumo said. “From
my mom, and coming to America every summer. I
had the very, very, very, basic English down.” For all
of sixth grade Nagumo felt depressed and homesick.
“The first year was miserable. I didn’t think I could
make it through every single day. I came home everyday begging to go back to Japan,” she said.
But teachers-- especially her seventh grade English teacher, Kathy Beyers-Rogers-- helped in her
adjustment. “She lived in Japan for four years before
[moving to America that year], and she understood
my problems more than anyone” Nagumo said. “She
would always give me encouraging words and I had
the best time having her as a teacher. After maybe two
years, I think I caught up to a normal level of understanding.”
By the time she left middle school she was fluent
in English. At her eighth grade graduation she was selected out of the entire graduating class for the prestigous Moultrie Patriot Award.
From there, she entered the halls of Wando,
where she continued to achieve acedemic success.
“I am always in awe of the wonderful achievements
Tommi has made and continues to make,” Nagumo’s
mother Lori said. “Five years ago, she had never read,
written, nor studied in English, and to be an all-A student- that says it all!”

10 Tribal Features

Mold found in homes
There are more than
100,000 types of mold.
Mold spores enter buildings through the air or on
people, animals and objects
that are brought into the
building.
The key to controlling mold
in interior spaces is moisture
control and air filtration.
If mold is discovered
If the mold is on furnishings or boxes discard the
materials.
If the mold occupies less
than 10 square feet, wash
the area with soapy water,
rinse and allow the area to
dry before repainting.
Larger areas should be
cleaned by someone with
experience in doing this type
of work.
Health risks
The biggest health problems due to exposure to
mold are allergies and asthma in susceptible people.
Some molds produce
powerful chemicals called
“mycotoxins” that can produce illness in animals and
people.
Scientific knowledge about
the health effects of these
toxins on humans is quite
limited.
-- compiled by megan parks

No place like home

EMILY LOR/staff

Know your
mold

Junior discovers
meaning of home
after displacement
megan parks

staff writer
Evacuation - leaving a place in an orderly fashion, especially for protection. It
was the last thing junior Taylor Foxworth
expected to have to do. The thought that
mold was in her house, that she would have
to leave her home, was foreign.
“My mom texted me while I was at
school and told me I had to pack up within
the first 20 minutes of getting home,” said
Foxworth about the Oct. 11 text. “She said
she would be there to pick me up and that
we had to leave.”
Emotions bombarded Foxworth’s
mind -- fear, uncertainty, confusion.
“I never thought I would have to leave
my house,” Foxworth said.
At first, she thought the strange news
was a joke. She laughed. Foxworth even
asked her mother why she would make a
joke about such a thing. But it was the truth
-- this was her reality.
“We were getting our air conditioning
fixed and under our house was being inspected. That’s where they found the mold,”
said Foxworth, whose family lives on Tailsman Road. “They told us we had to evacuate that day because it was harmful to our
health.”
Taylor’s mother, Elizabeth Foxworth,
was the first to suffer from the mold in their
house.
“She got sick from the mold and she
was out for about three months. We didn’t
know what it was; the doctors couldn’t figure out why she was sick,” Foxworth said.
“She had a rash, was breaking out, and got
really nauseous.”

She was -- in a lamentable coincidence -- cut from her job at a home health
center for missing too many days of work.
Fortunately, the Foxworth family
owned a camper. For the next month or so,
a 31-foot KeyStone Premier Bullet trailer
is where they call home. They’ve been living at the KOA Campground while their
house is being fumigated.
William Foxworth, Foxworth’s 8-yearold brother, was initially excited about the
situation.
“He thought it was an adventure. But
he’s ready to go home now,” Foxworth said.
“He’s a kid. He doesn’t have a neighborhood; he doesn’t have his friends. He can’t
go outside and play in our backyard. It’s a
big difference on the community aspect.”
Because of space constraints, only a
few possessions were able to come along.
“We’re living with the minimum in
our camper,” Foxworth said. “It’s pretty
tight for a family of four. I share a room
with my brother, and we sleep about a foot
away from each other.”
Daily struggles arise; petty fights start.
Stress from school mixes easily with family tension, especially in such a small area.
“The fight just to take a shower and
get ready in a three-foot-wide bathroom
is a lot for stress in the morning. And it’s
every morning,” Foxworth said. “It’s just
such a bad routine -- it makes you want to
pull your hair out.”
Their temporary home, though not
perfectly ideal, is appreciated.
“We would probably be living in a
hotel if we didn’t have a camper. Finances
would be stretched a lot farther than they
are now because of my mom’s job situation,” Foxworth said.
Despite these hardships, the Foxworth family chooses to stay positive.
Looking at what they’ve gained rather

11.16.11
After discovering that
their home
was infested
by mold,
junior Taylor
Foxworth
and her
family have
been living
in this RV
in the KOA
campground
for the past
month.

than what they’ve lost is what aids them
to get through long days, Mrs. Foxworth
said.
“Even though we’ve all been affected
differently by the move and have had our
own personal struggles, it has been a positive [experience] for our family,” she said.
“We’ve learned to come together when
things get really hard.”
*****
A week after vacating their contaminated home, Taylor and her family returned. But not for good -- merely a fleeting excursion to collect more clothing.
When she turned the door knob to
her childhood home, something wasn’t
the same.
A smell similar to spoiled milk polluted the air. Foxworth felt sick; she couldn’t
be in the vicinity of whatever was causing
the smell. She waited in the car while the
rest of her family gathered their things.
Foxworth thinks back to the day
she was told to evacuate. Thoughts swirl;
memories are reflected. She remembers
thinking this would be a week-long situation. It’s been nearly a month since she’s
been able to open the door to familiar surroundings, to sleep in her bed -- things
people often take for granted.
“I’m missing all of the small things.
My room, my space and being away from
people. You don’t realize how much you
rely on just being alone,” she said. “And
once you’re surrounded by people constantly, because you have nowhere to go, it
gets really difficult.”
She’s counting down the days. Three
weeks... 13... a week and a half left.
Foxworth habitually thinks of the day
she can go back to her home.
“I’m going to be so happy,” she said.
“I’ll appreciate having a house to live in so
much more than I did before.”

11.16.11

Tribal Features 11
MADDIE BAILEY/staff

Engineering
teacher and
veteran David Roemer
(left) stands
in front of
his door.
Social studies
teacher Beverly Salvo’s
(right) father
was in the
army, her
father-inlaw got
two Purple
Hearts while
stationed in
Korea, her
uncles were
the navy and
her aunt is in
the navy.

Celebrating our servicemen
Veterans and family of
active miliary are appreciated
for their sacrifice
leah elkins

staff writer

“Project Goal: To honor those who have served in our
nation’s military and to recognize family members’ support of their military family members.”
This Veteran’s Day, employment preparation teacher Carrie Balser and her students put together a special
project to honor the nation’s veterans -- more specifically,
to honor Wando High School’s teachers or their family members who are actively serving our nation or are
retired duty veterans.A grand total of 225 teachers and
family members who served the nation for a total of 1,688

years. To pay tribute to these brave veterans, Balser and
her students printed and laminated logos of each branch
of the service for all 225 honored people. The Army, Coast
Guard, Marine, Air Force and Navy veterans were represented by the corresponding logo on the teachers’ doors for
each family member who served.
Teachers who are veterans themselves received a larger, ornate logo decorated with patriotic colors in the shape
of a ribbon to give them special, honorary recognition.
One of these teachers, softball coach Steven Legette and
veteran of the S.C. Army National Guard, said, “She put
this together to honor veterans, and it was awesome. She
and her students make you feel appreciated.”
As for teachers who are veterans, teachers whose
spouses are veterans or in active duty and teachers whose
children are in active duty, special treats were awarded to
them along with a larger logo for their doors. Marshmal-

low pops, patriotic pins and red, white and blue parfaits
were given to the teachers near Veterans Day, followed by
a Veterans Day lunch in their honor prepared by Balser’s
students and served at 12:11 on Nov. 11. Balser and her
students came up with this idea for a class project about a
month before it was started, wanting to “think of a project
that would impact everybody in the school.”
Balser said the teachers’ quick responses to her surveys were “amazing and unexpected. I had no idea that
[this project] would touch such a nerve,” she said.
“My class is off the beaten path, but teachers would
walk their survey responses down to me and tell me their
stories about their family members who were veterans or
their active duty children,” she added. “It was heartwarming to see that they were so excited that somebody was
recognizing their family members that served, and some
of them had served as long as 30 years ago.”

11.16.11

12 Tribal Features

The life

of a

vegetarian

Vegetarians do not eat meat, fish or poultry. Vegans, in addition to being vegetarian, do not use other
animal products and by-products such as eggs, dairy
product, honey, leather, fur, silk, wool, cosmetics and
soaps derived from animal products.

Influences bring
about a drastic change
in diet
georgia barfield

staff writer

Take vitamins and mineral supplement - 12%

Would you consider yourself a vegetarian?

yes - 6%

no - 94%

Would you consider yourself a vegan?

yes - 0%

ed to vomit.”
It was the last time she consumed
red meat.
During the winter of ninth grade,
after a few years without consuming red
meat, Ryan took further action in eliminating animal products from her diet.
During this time her way of thinking towards animals changed.
“I thought about how eating a chicken is like eating a domestic animal, like a
dog,” Ryan said. “We all have a heart and
veins.”
This prompted to make the final step
away from consuming animal products.
She decided to become a vegan.
But Ryan’s choice to become a vegan
was not a quick one. She took the time to
research the subject.
“I became a vegan after researching the factory farming and dairy farming industry,” she said. “I learned many
things like [how] animal products and
by-products contribute to cancer.”
Since becoming a vegan, Ryan has
discovered many of its health benefits.
“I believe being a vegan is a healthy
lifestyle because you digest virtually no
‘bad’ fats,” she said. “Eating plant based
food gives you a lot of vitamins, minerals
and antioxidants that fight off sickness
and prevent cancer.”
Ryan’s daily diet, despite including
no animal products, manages to include
the nutrients necessary to the human
body.
“On a daily basis I eat mainly
fruits, vegetables and grains,” she

no - 100%

said. “For protein I eat nuts like almonds
and I eat beans, tofu, mock meats and
veggie burgers.”
She lists her favorite foods as chipotle black bean burgers and asparagus,
roasted in the oven with sesame seeds.
Even though there have been many
benefits to being a vegan, Ryan has discovered a few setbacks to her lifestyle
choice. Her parents’ reaction to her diet
change has not been ideal.
“At first my parents just thought it
was a ‘strange phase’ I was going
through,” she said. “My mom
sometimes calls me crazy, but
to me, being a vegan is completely normal.”
Overall her parents, she
said, have been respectful
of Ryan’s dietary choice.
“I am absolutely fine
with Dale being vegan,”
her mother, Linda
Ryan, said. “She
did a lot of
research
before
she became
fully
vegan.
I am
very
support-

both - 44%
128 people polled
ive of her decision.”
Eating out has proven to be another
setback since Ryan has become a vegan.
“When I am going out to dinner I
always have to research the restaurant’s
menu and make sure that I tell [the restaurant employees] that I can’t eat anything from an animal,” Ryan said. “[The
restaurant employees] don’t care. Unless
you’re allergic to something they won’t
listen.”
Ryan has discovered many struggles
since becoming a vegan, but for her,
the pros outweigh the cons.
“People can reverse diabetes and heart conditions
with the help of a vegan diet,”
Ryan said, “All these benefits sounded convincing
enough for me that I plan
on never changing.”
Showing her
distaste of a
hamburger,
junior Dale
Ryan avoids all
animal derived
foods in order
to follow her
strictly vegan
diet.

NATHAN GLYDER /staff

Thanksgiving. A time to celebrate
family, friends and eat a weeks worth of
calories in one sitting. Turkey, stuffing,
gravy, mashed potatoes and pie are a few
of the fixtures at the traditional Thanksgiving table. But this Thanksgiving, junior Dale Ryan won’t eat any of these
things. As a vegan, she won’t be eating
any animal products.
In January of her freshman year,
Ryan decided to become a vegan. Since
then not a single cheese cube or chicken
strip has passed through her lips.
This diet change was not completely
radical for Dale because she had eliminated red meat from her diet in the fifth
grade, after her teacher read excerpts
from Upton Sinclair’s The Jungle.
“[The Jungle] talks about the meat industry a hundred years ago and how people would get rats in the meat that they
ordered,” Ryan said. “It really grossed me
out.”
Soon after her teacher read The Jungle, Ryan was at a birthday party for her
Grandpa. Her dad cooked hamburgers.
As soon as she bit into one, she realized
the burger was undercooked.
“[The hamburger] was raw and
bloody on the inside,” Ryan said. “I want-

Nutrients such as iron, calcium, protein,
vitamin D and zinc may be lacking in a
vegetarian or vegan diet. If you said yes to
either of the below questions, what do you
do to get your daily essential nutrients?

11.16.11

Tribal Features 13

Atypical diet can be dangerous to health

The c

Student has a change of
heart, deciding to put an
end to vegetarian diet

COLUMN BY

kristen evans, staff writer

Five years.
Five years of only being able to eat coleslaw at
barbecues.
Five years of making an extra dinner for myself
while watching my family eat steak.
Five years of being worn out and never knowing
why.
Five long years of being a vegetarian.
I have always been a passionate person. I cry during children's movies; I spend more time petting my
friends’ dogs then with them. To put it simply, I care -about the big and the little things.
It’s been a struggle learning to pick my battles, and
this was one of them. I’m so passionate about animals

and the environment -- I even remember in elementary
school pretending I was assigned research papers on
different animals and looking up information on them
from my children’s encyclopedia. So I decided to become
a vegetarian in seventh grade and continued through
senior year.
But this was a battle I had to give in to.
It happened slowly, and I didn’t notice it at first.
I had been falling asleep in class -- and missing the
notes -- or while doing my homework at night -- and
not finishing it. My grades went down, I was constantly
exhausted, and I was no longer happy.
I remember going to the doctor or talking to neighbors who were nutritionists. When they heard I was a
vegetarian, they always warned me, "Make sure you get
your protein!"
I didn't give this much thought. I just brushed it
aside like everyone does when your mom says things
like, "Eat your vegetables!"
About a year ago is when I realized my protein supply was depleting because of my diet. At first I thought

there was some easy fix; I didn’t entertain the thought of
stopping.
But there was no quick fix. Keeping track of your
protein gram intake takes a lot of self discipline. Always
reading labels and doing math to calculate how much
protein you still need for the day was wearing me out,
and instead of getting my energy, everything was just
getting worse. I would have to stop sometime, and if not
then -- eventually.
“Eventually” came this September. This was a battle
I had to let go, and letting go is not easy for me. I’m a
fighter and a doer, but this time I just had to lose.
Being a vegetarian can be so rewarding to your
emotions and your health if you do it the right way, but
it’s not for everyone and it's not easy. If you are one,
make sure you keep track of what you eat and get your
protein in.
And if you can't keep up with it, there may have to
be a time when you give in as well. Make sure you can
throw your pride away and do what's healthiest for you
if and when that time comes.

The rules were simple: 13 days, no
meat.
Simple enough, and yet terrifying in
itself. And as I stared at the giant crockpot of steaming lamb stew, the rules were
far from simple. In fact, it seemed like it
would be so much easier taking a spoonfull. No one would know -- except me, of
course. Ignore the creamy potatoes floating on top; ignore the delicious chunks of
lamb covered in various different seasonings. That’s what I told myself, at least.
And, somehow, it must have worked,
because 12 days later I was still meat free.
At first I had to fight tooth and nail
just to get my parents to consider it. I was
told how unhealthy and unnatural it was
and they refused to cater to this phase
of mine with vegetarian recipes. Soon
enough, though, we agreed that as long as
it was only for 13 days and no more, I had
their permission, if not their blessing.
On the first day, I came home to the
entire kitchen stocked full of vegetarian
soups, pizzas and pastas, not counting the

nuts and extra dairy products I was told
I would use as my protein supplement. I
was rather taken aback, considering the
day before, part of the rant had been that
I would have to survive off of salads for
the next two weeks while my parents had
their meat. Someone must have changed
their mind, though, because my very first
meal as a vegetarian was three-cheese
ravioli smothered in rich white sauce.
The next day, the only difficulty I
encountered was a run-in with the insides
of my lunch box -- cheese, an apple and a
handful of nuts in a sandwich bag.
My third day wasn't much better,
with coffee for breakfast and a few stolen
fries for lunch. It wasn't until dinner,
when my mom surprised me with a
Mellow Mushroom Hawaiian pizza, that
I started feeling confident about the decision.
Though the first few days were difficult, the weekend was easily the hardest.
I was continually bombarded with stuff
like, "Goodness Sarah, if only you could
try this lamb. It's delicious!" or, "Look at
this fried chicken; it's a shame you can't
eat meat."
I was proud of myself, though, especially after turning down Chick-Fil-A, an
offer that appears once in a blue moon at
our household.
By Monday, my fifth day as a vegetar-

ian, I knew I was dedicated to the experiment and was already getting used to having to explain to my friends why I didn't
want any of their chicken fingers. That
didn't mean I wasn't tempted, though.
During a conversation with a friend,
I explained my occasional weakness.
Grabbing my notebook, she jotted down
a Youtube link and told me that it should
help me last for the next eight days.
When I arrived home, I looked up
the video “Meet your Meat.” It was terrible. Imagine the movie Saw, but replace
the humans with animals. It talked about
pigs and cows that were fattened so
quickly their legs would break beneath
them, and others that were put in a cage
where they would spend their whole lives
in one position, never allowed even to
turn around. It also showed chicken factories with chickens on top of each other,
many of their fragile bones broken due to
the cramped space, but still kept alive to
be used for meat later.
The video hit me hard. That night
my mom offered me a simple hamburger,
and I felt sick to my stomach. I just didn’t
see any reason we should be supporting
factories that do those things to animals.
After the Youtube video, along with a
couple others equally as disturbing, I had
no problems being a vegetarian. I continued to avoid meat like it was the plague

and soon enough, the lack of fats and
excess proteins I usually received from
the meats made me feel healthier. To add
to it all, I had lost weight.
When the last day finally rolled
around, I wasn't ready to go back to
my old ways. I had learned so much,
made so much progress. I wasn't sure
if I wanted to eat meat again. But I had
made a promise to my parents and dinner
ended up being a big, fat pork steak. I ate
it. At first I felt sick. But I ate every bite
and enjoyed it. That's right, I enjoyed it.
And honestly, my mom was thrilled as I
brought an empty dish to the sink.
I wasn't proud, but I wasn't disgusted
either. My mother is an excellent cook
-- deserve-her-own-cooking-show kind
of good. There was no way I could be a
vegetarian in her house, at least not in the
way I had been over the past 13 days. So
when the 13 days were up, I continued
to eat meat around my mom. When I
wasn't at home, though, I kept away -- no
chicken sandwiches at school, no giant
hot dog at the fair and pineapple rather
than pepperoni on my pizzas.
My mom noticed the changes and
protested, but we came to an agreement.
I ate the food she prepared, and she cut
down on the amount of meat she got
from the store. It was beyond fair, and
when it all comes down to it, I still see
myself as a vegetarian. Also, I have the
plans of never touching a steak again
once I move out.

14 Tribal Personality

Lessons learned at college
amanda dowd
It’s hard to believe that only six short
months ago, I was a senior at Wando
getting ready to graduate and daydreaming
about what life at Boston University would
be like.
Now I’m a full-time college freshman,
living it up in a completely new
city with a completely new
group of friends, and I’m loving
every minute of it.
I’ve only been here a few
months, but it already feels like
home. Believe me, it’s not lost
on me how lucky I am to feel that way so
quickly.
College is a huge learning experience,
and most of the learning takes place
outside of the classroom -- that’s the point,
really, to grow and change as a person
and do things you never thought you’d do
before.
So what have I learned since I got
here? To be honest, I could go on for days
and fill several books with everything that’s
happened. But for the sake of space, I’ll just

highlight a few main points.
I’ve learned that if a cute guy buys
you coffee and opens every door for you,
it doesn’t necessarily mean he’ll treat you
with respect.
I’ve learned that you should NEVER
judge anyone by what Facebook -- or
another person -- tells you about them.
I’ve learned that judgment, in general,
needs to be thrown out the window
immediately.
I’ve learned that it’s okay to be friends
with people who you would never have
been friends with in high school because
they smoked/studied too much/were
too quiet/liked weird music (take
your pick).
I’ve learned that nothing will be
handed to you -- you have to get it
yourself.
I’ve learned that asking around
about frat parties BEFORE you go is a very,
very good idea.
I’ve learned there is no such thing as
a taboo subject -- think sex, religion and
politics all together every single day.
I’ve learned that feelings can develop
very, very quickly here -- college life is
extremely condensed and fast-paced -- and
it’s important to keep that in mind.
I’ve learned that knowing what to do
when someone has had way too much to
drink is critical.

Top 10

I’ve learned that my parents really do
worry I’ll get run over by the subway/dateraped/mugged/arrested.
But most importantly, I’ve learned
that college is entirely what you make
of it. I’ve seen so many people having a
hard time here because things aren’t 100
percent perfect right away. Granted, I had
the benefit of moving in the middle of high
school, which prepared me tremendously
for culture shock and awkward social
situations.
So here’s the trick: don’t expect to hit
the ground running. Things will probably
be awkward, sad and a little lonely when
you first get to college and that’s completely
okay. Hopefully, things will be nothing but
positive from the outset, but if they’re not,
relax.
You have plenty of time for all those
amazing experiences you dreamed about
in high school, so give yourself a break.
So for everyone getting ready for
college, whether it’s next year or in three
years, just remember this: get super
involved, never turn down an opportunity
that comes your way and introduce yourself
to a lot of people.
It also wouldn’t hurt to call home once
in a while. Everything else will take care of
itself.
Oh, and one more thing: make sure
you hit the books every now and then.

It’s been two years.
Two years since math teacher Joe Kutcher was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, the fourth deadliest cancer
worldwide, according to the American Cancer Society.
Two years later, Kutcher is finishing what should be
his last round of chemotherapy. Throughout those two
years, Kutcher has persevered.
“It’s been a long two years of surgeries and radiation
and chemotherapy,” Kutcher said.
Finding out that he had cancer in October of 2009
was a challenging time for Kutcher and his family.
“[It was] kind of like I was driving a car into a brick
wall. The world stopped; I didn’t know what to do at the
time,” Kutcher said. His family was doubly impacted by
the news, since his father died of lung cancer. “It was difficult telling them, that, ‘Hey, we have to gear up and go
through it one more time.’”
Fortunately for Kutcher, his wife Rebecca -- a teacher
at Cario Middle School -- was especially supportive going
into the treatment.
“She is the one that immediately got on the computer
and started doing a bunch of research and found out a lot
of the facts,” Kutcher said. “To this day, she is still like that
and she has allowed me to focus on me and keep my head
straight.”
Her research has helped Kutcher stay optimistic.
“I looked up every survivor story I could find on the
internet,” Mrs. Kutcher said. “Every time I would read the
horrifying statistics, I would go back to one of the survivor
stories and focus on survival.”
“We are in this together and I will do whatever I can
to support him throughout this journey,” she continued.
“He is so strong and has such a wonderful attitude and

Kutcher went through
chemotherapy from
December of 2009 to
February of 2011.

sense of humor.”
After months of surgery and chemotherapy, Kutcher
is doing well.
“It looks like the tumor is becoming cystic again,
which means it’s kind of encapsulated, and the inside of it
looks like it’s dying out, which is exactly what we’re looking
for,” Kutcher said.
He has just one more round of chemo and a CT scan
in December. If everything goes as planned, then he will be
on a monitoring basis.
Throughout his treatment, the procedures which
Kutcher received were on
the very cutting edge of
pancreatic cancer treatment, which had received
little funding until the
past several years.
“At the time I was diagnosed, there was an incredible push for funding,
for research for it, and everybody that I talked to,
everything that I’ve had
done seems to be cutting
edge,” Kutcher said. “It’s
like somebody said, ‘Hey, this works, here’s Kutcher, let’s
try it on him.’ I was very, very fortunate to be riding that
wave throughout the whole thing.”
Kutcher’s resilience in the face of pancreatic cancer is
due, in no small part, to his outlook on the situation.
“The best way to get past it and get through to the end.
I think [the best way] is to just have a good attitude and
keep on moving positively through everything,” he said.
“‘Laughter is the best medicine’ type of thing.”
Kutcher’s family was also a major source of motivation.
“When I have good news, they celebrate with me.
When some unfortunate surprises come up every once
in a while, they’re sad right along with me,” he said. “But
they’ve been supportive the whole way through.”
Kutcher was teaching and working the entire time he

After chemo, he went
through a month of
radiation and chemotherapy to shrink the
tumor so that it could
be operated on.

was going through radiation and chemotherapy to help
keep everything as normal as possible.
“I had to take a couple of days off, but besides that,
I’ve been running a full schedule, I’ve been running the
clock for football, I’ve been announcing for basketball,”
Kutcher said. “Lately I’ve been announcing for volleyball,
and I’ve been participating in school activities as much as
possible.”
Going in to work and seeing his students has been
another factor that has kept Kutcher going.
“There’s some mornings where I wake up and the
treatments have me
kind of beat down and I
don’t feel like getting out
of bed, but I get out of
bed and I crawl my way
to work,” Kutcher said.
“When I get to interacting with students, that
really fires me up and
keeps me on a real positive track.”
Facing
pancreTeacher Joe Kutcher atic cancer has helped
Kutcher focus on making the most of life.
“I feel that I did appreciate a lot of little things, but it’s
incredible how much more you can appreciate it,” Kutcher
said. “It makes me look forward a little bit more and plan
for the future a little bit more.”
Throughout everything that he has gone through,
Kutcher doesn’t feel that cancer has been able to get him
down, and hopes that others with cancer could feel the
same.
“I’m kind of representative of the ‘new pancreatic
cancer patient,’ where I don’t think I have to celebrate
lasting six months or a year. I’m going to be able to look
foreword to another ten, 20 years on this earth, with a lot
of luck,” Kutcher said. “I think what I want to do is tell
people that with any kind of cancer, they don’t have to let
it defeat you.”

When I get to interacting with

students, that really fires me up

and keeps me on a real positive
track.

Summer of 2010,
he had a Whipple
surgery, which
removed the tumor.

After surgery,
Kutcher had followup chemo and
the doctors were
confident that the
treatment was
successful.

Months later, a CT
scan revealed a
cancerous area on
the other end of the
pancreas. Because the
area was inaccessible,
it had to be treated
with massive doses of
radiation directed at
the tumor.

Centerspread 17

16 11.16.11

Fighting through it

Sophomore won’t let her life
be defined by fourth
cancer diagnosis
lauren fraser

staff writer

Cancer reality

When Edwards was diagnosed with cancer the third
time, her family decided to take a leap of faith and give
immunotherapy a try. The idea behind immunotherapy is
that it will boost the immune system and make it strong
enough to reject and destroy the cancer cells.
“[Chemotherapy] really is a brutal way to fight disease. Immunotherapy is different, which we’re trying now
and it’s still on trial. It’s not FDA approved. It energizes the
white cells to fight harder against the bad cells,” Mr. Edwards said. “Hopefully that’s the way cancer will be dealt
with in the future because the idea of
cut and poison is very draconian.”
Now, as Edwards is dealing
with her fourth diagnosis of osteosarcoma, her family is looking for
even more ways to make her healthy
again. Not only do they want to get
rid of the cancer, they want to make
sure it doesn’t come back.
Her family has recently sent
100mL of Edwards’ blood to Baylor
University. Blood is the carrier of
metastasis; it carries disease to different parts of the body. Since Edward’s blood type is HER2+, as opposed to HER2-, she is three to four
times more likely to get cancer.
“They are going to take it into
the laboratory and genetically alter
her blood,” Mr. Edwards said. “This
is going to happen over a period of
time and be reintroduced to Rachel
when they genetically modify her blood.”
Because of her reoccurring cancer and the numerous
treatments she has been through, Edwards has spent a lot
of time at the Medical University of South Carolina getting
to know the staff. Within her first year of cancer, she spent
over 100 days and nights in the hospital.

Keeping the faith

While it was difficult for Edwards to let gymnastics
go, she never lost hope.
“[Months after the surgery] I figured out, I think,
that I could do much more than just
that,” she said. “When I came back
to school I started taking an interest
in theatre so I started doing a little
more with drama and I took chorus
and I started violin up.”
Months after her first surgery,
Edwards’ mother approached her
with the idea of starting music.
“My mom told me that, because
I couldn’t do gymnastics anymore,
I could play an instrument and I
thought what better instrument
than the violin,” Edwards said. “So, I
started that and I started taking lessons with one of my best friends for
almost three years now.”
Now Edwards has thrown herself into her new activities. She is
in the school musical and plays the
violin with her church orchestra.
“It’s so much fun. It’s like a family – our orchestra. We play together on Wednesday night,
we practice,” she said. “On Sunday, for two services we
come together in fellowship and play together and we have
a lot of fun.”
Through this, Edwards has discovered her newest
passion – music. And it has made her family stronger.
LAUREN FRASER/staff writer

Edwards was 10 at the time and diagnosed with Osteosarcoma – bone cancer. It started in her knee and tibia,
and then went towards her lungs.
“You’re really kind of in a state of ‘I’m not sure we’re
supposed to be here. These are things that happen to other
people,’” her father, Gary Edwards said. “It became very
apparent to us that those emotions that came rushing at
you we had to set aside and put on a shelf. Our task at hand
was to open our minds and gain as much knowledge as
possible because there were many decisions to be made.”
It took another stream of tests and a trip to Charlotte
before Edwards began chemotherapy and, two months
later, she had her first surgery.
“I did hydrochemotherapy. I lost my hair. I was really
sick – like nauseous and I felt icky all the time. I stayed out
of school, I was on homebound. Now this time I’m doing
immunotherapy, which hardly has any side effects,” Edwards said. “The job of chemotherapy is to kill cells, but it
doesn’t discriminate between the good and bad cells. The
idea is that it will kill the bad cells and the good cells will
regenerate.”
After losing her hair through chemotherapy and undergoing surgery, Edwards and her family were told the
cancer was gone.
But that wasn’t the end.
Several months later, Edwards began feeling the same
pain in her leg as before. Another trip to the doctor: the

Leap of faith

“It’s a big part of my life. I am so happy I had music
to fall back on. I couldn’t imagine my life without violin or
ever being in choir,” she said. “We’ve always been a family
oriented around music. My parents say they are not musically inclined but they can sing a little. It’s a big part of
holidays. We always sing, goof off and play instruments.
Me and my brother always play some duets. It’s just a big
part of our family tradition, I guess.”
Edwards has since learned how to take a bad situation
and make something positive out of it.
“I do a lot of public speaking to raise money for the
hospital and I’ve met a lot of interesting people through
that,” she said.
Edwards has been involved in radio fundraisers and
has attended banquets where she speaks of the impact
MUSC has had
on her.
“The people
at MUSC are
so sweet and
everyone’s
so
relatable
and
you can goof off
with the doctors and nurses,”
she said. “That’s
how I’m going
to work for the
rest of my life.
I’m going to
raise money for
MUSC -- help
raise money and
spread awareness of what’s
going on.”
Along with
the work Edwards does with MUSC, her family also praises the work and support of the community.
“We have a huge support system. We’ve got people all
over praying for her. We really feel the power of prayer because one of her doctors said she needs a miracle and we’re
seeing that miracle now,” said Mrs. Edwards.
According to Edwards, even though the road through
cancer has been difficult, she has learned so much from it.
“If you’re going through anything hard you’ve got to
keep a positive attitude. That’s one of the main things that
get you through it,” she said. “I’ve had a good outlook on
life. I just knew I was going to beat it and was going to be
able to go back to school with my friends without having
to wear masks.”

Staying strong

Over the past few years, Edwards’ family has been
faced with difficulties on so many levels. However, they
have never let it lower them.
“Difficulty strains everyone. Difficulty does two
things: it accentuates the flaws and weaknesses in our lives
but it also accentuates the very positive things in our lives.
Although it’s been difficult, I doubt over the four and a
half years that we’ve been going through this that we know
anyone who has seen more blessings,” Mr. Edwards said.
“It’s been a very rewarding experience. It’s not one I would
ask for again. It’s not one I had ever wanted to go through,

but none of us were ever promised a trouble-free life.
While we’re in those difficult times we can open our eyes
to the blessings before us.”
Her family has experienced a range of fear and devastation but they have since changed their outlook on life.
“I sit here and think ‘ugh her room’s a mess’ and I’m
going ‘oh I love the fact that she’s here to mess up her
room!’” Mrs. Edwards said. “I go through that a lot during
the day.”
It has taught them a new level of appreciation.
“We’ve learned to live like time is precious. It’s really
taught us that time is indeed precious and those people we
care about the most are the ones that we should treat with
the most kindness. That is something that, when we walk
through the end of this process, we can carry with us for
a long time,”
Mr. Edwards
said. “It’s really been a
rich part of
the process.”
Edwards
has walked
out of this situation with a
new strength
and understanding.
“Rachel’s
dealt with a
very difficult
cancer. It’s a
cancer that
has one of the
least success
rates of all
cancers there
are. Though she has it, she doesn’t let it define her life. That
is admirable to me,” said Gary Edwards. “She is going to
let the spirit of joy that consumes her be her torch and that
happiness and the things that are in her life don’t just come
from within they come from a faith in a real God, from
the encouragement of the people that are walking with us.”
Edwards isn’t the only one who has become a better
person, either. Her family has a new appreciation for the
small things in life.
“The things we might have had on our very important
list of things to be concerned about are much smaller now.
That’s moved over to the small stuff list. The big stuff list is
more focused on relationships with people that matter to
us the most,” said Gary Edwards. “We enjoy one another
and the best moments I can recall are when both of her
brothers and sister in law are here, just us, at this table.”
With all of Edwards’ new treatment, support from the
community and prayers from loved ones, all she can do
now is look to the future.
“As long as this has been going on, I think we’re going
to wear cancer out,” Mrs. Edwards said. “It’s going to give
up on us with all of the stuff we’ve got going on.
LAUREN FRASER/staff writer

Her heart was pounding inside of her chest. She sat
in the cold seat twisting her shirt in knots. She shouldn’t
be here.
“Why don’t you step into my office?” the doctor asked.
She was confused. She had only come in for a basic
check-up on her knee. It was hurting, but that’s not unusual for a gymnast. She stood up from the waiting area
and nervously followed.
Her father accompanied her and they sat down in
chairs opposite of her doctor.
The doctor sighed.
Sophomore Rachel Edwards had cancer.
“It was gut-wrenching. Basically, it was like, what do
we do next?” her mother, Debbie Edwards said.

cancer had returned. Same process, same results: cured.
At least temporarily. But it came back. Edwards has been
through three different rounds of cancer in the last four
years and is on her fourth.
“The second time I wasn’t expecting it, but the third
time I wasn’t as shocked and I didn’t take it as hard,” she
said.
After a while, though, the chemotherapy began to
wear her down.
“When it came back the third time, in a big way, chemotherapy options became limited,” Mr. Edwards said.

“The Medical University of South Carolina is an institution we have great respect for and that’s where she
needed to be. She needed to be near her support group
of family and friends,” said Mr. Edwards, whose daughter
initially was treated in Charlotte. “They’re absolutely unbelievable.”
Going through cancer as many times as she has became very difficult.
“One of the big [struggles] the first two times was that
I had to lose my hair and being in middle school was kind
of hard because if people don’t know what you’re going
through they will pick on you,” she said.
Edwards has struggled with missing school as well. In
the past, she has been placed on intermittent homebound
and was often times too sick to come to school.
“It’s been hard missing all of that school. School is like
a social time and I’ve missed out on a lot of really cool
stuff,” she said.
According to Edwards, one of the hardest aspects of
having cancer was giving up some of the things she loved.
She went through several surgeries that would limit her
physical activity.
“I had to get a few surgeries. I had to get a knee and
bone replacement in my tibia. I had to quit gymnastics
and cheerleading. I’ve had a couple lung surgeries and so
that took a bit of physical therapy too,” she said.
Quitting gymnastics was the most difficult part.
“I was pretty mad. I was upset. I didn’t think that I
could find anything to replace [gymnastics],” Edwards
said. “It took me a few months post surgery to realize I
couldn’t be a gymnast anymore.”

18 Tribal Special Section

Surviving the race
Junior completes Race for the
Cure to support her mother
georgia barfield

staff writer

Courtsey of Carie Lancaster

Junior Carie Lancaster poses with her mother before the Race for
the Cure on Oct. 15.

Worth the pain
Teacher Mullinax runs with
Team in Training to
support those fighting cancer
mike o’brien

staff photographer

A marathon is 26.2 miles of pure dedication, pure effort, and requires the ability to endure pain. Few people
have the capabilities necessary to run a marathon, and
many of those who do use them for their own fitness and
achievements. But for Spanish teacher Caroline Mullinax,
a marathon is more than a blend of pavement, pain and
endurance. For her, it is an act of true devotion to others.
For her, the fight to the finish line is nothing compared to
the battles against cancer that she has witnessed throughout her life.
In May of 2010, Mullinax joined the Leukemia Lymphoma Society and a group of runners called the Team in
Training. This assembly of runners raises money through
the main organization, which then donates all profits to
blood-based cancer research. Among the runners are
relatives of cancer victims, ex-victims in remission and

Junior Carie Lancaster showed her love for her mother, who is battling breast cancer, when she participated in
the Race for the Cure on Oct. 15 -- despite the fact that she
had to be literally carried onto the course.
It was in April of 2006 that Lancaster, then in fifth
grade, received the news that her mother, Stacy Lancaster,
was diagnosed with breast cancer.
“I was shocked,” Lancaster said about her mother’s
diagnosis. “I felt depressed and kind of useless because I
couldn’t do anything to help my mom get better. It’s hard
to see your own mom sick.”
Determined to show her mom how much she cared,
Lancaster began running in the annual Susan G. Komen
Race for the Cure, the world’s largest breast cancer fundraiser, every October.
“I hate running but I do [the Race for the Cure] to
show my mom that I support her and I love her,” Lancaster
said, who has run the race six times.
But Lancaster’s plans to run the 2011 Race for the
Cure were changed when she injured her MCL and LCL
while working the Wando Color Guard on Sept. 24. Lancaster had to be on crutches for two weeks.
With the race occurring Oct. 15, a week after she was
off crutches, Lancaster’s doctor said she couldn’t run.

11.16.11
But instead of giving up -- “I really could only hobble
around,” Lancaster said -- she was determined to complete the race. At 9 a.m. Oct. 15, Carie hobbled to the
starting line and climbed on the back of her boyfriend,
senior Ford Law.
For the entire mile long race, Ford carried her piggyback style. Their finishing time: 13 minutes and 41 seconds.
“Physically, I felt fine [during the race] because my
knee didn’t hurt,” Lancaster said. “Emotionally, it was
hard, correlating it with how my mom must feel having
cancer because others around me couldn’t do anything to
help me but support me through cheering.”
“It was tough towards the end of the race, but knowing I was there to support a great cause made it all worth
it,” Law said about having to carry Carie on his back. “The
look on Carie and her mother’s face [when we completed
the race] was priceless.”
Lancaster said that completing the race this year felt
especially good because of her mom’s recently intensified
struggle with the disease.
“It’s been a really rough year, cancer-wise. The cancer
came back aggressively, spreading to her left lymph node
and liver,” she said. “She had to go through more chemotherapy. After six months of chemo, the cancer finally
started to shrink.”
Stacy Lancaster’s reaction to Carie’s dedication in the
Race for the Cure has been very positive.
“It’s special to have my children there and know that
they are supporting me...especially my daughters, because
so many women are affected by breast cancer,” Mrs. Lancaster said. “It shows how much they really care about
me.”

current victims -- some who undergo chemotherapy dur- had to fight this [cancer],” Mullinax said. “When I’m
ing training.
training and I’m on mile 17 and feel like passing out, I
“I decided I wanted to run in honor and memory of think of my family and other runners in chemo, and I
friends and family who have fought blood cancer and oth- know I can keep going.”
er diseases,” Mullinax said.
She also mentions that on the routine group runs
Cancer has had a prevalent role in her life. As a child, through Charleston, she runs past the hospitals and often
Mullinax watched two of her most influential
thinks of the children in them who are fighting
teachers and one of her church mothers battle
for survival.
with breast cancer. She then lost her grand“Leukemia is one of the more common
mother to leukemia. Her best friend’s mother
childhood cancers,” she said. “It’s bad that anyand son were also later diagnosed with leuone has to go through that, but for children? I
kemia, and quite recently, her best friend was
mean, I can’t imagine.”
diagnosed with multiple sclerosis (MS) -- an
As she continues to train and raise funds
autoimmune disease that causes the immune
for research, Mullinax has made connections
Ca
ro
system to attack its own body’s nerves. Leukewith many people like her. Not only does she
lin
e
mia is diagnosed in over 43,000 people each
constantly interact with people who have sufMu
llin
year -- many of whom are children -- and MS
fered similar losses of loved ones, but she has
ax
debilitates or kills thousands every year.
connected with the people who are currently
“All research overlaps, so you know, the
suffering and need the results of the research
research of just one disease could help all the others,” Mul- that the marathon is funding.
linax said.
“When all these people come together for something
But even in the name of a good cause, Mullinax admits like that,” Mullinax said, “it’s comforting to be around
that training, teaching and finding time to relax is often people with a similar purpose.”
quite a challenge. In addition to teaching and the extra
Mullinax ran the Savannah Marathon on Nov. 5 with
hours she puts in outside of school, training consumes her the rest of the program. Although her knee gave out on
free time.
mile seven, she was able to walk the 19 miles to the finish.
“What keeps me going is my friends and family that “It was so painful, but it was so worth it to get to the end.”

11.16.11

Tribal Entertainment 19

Entertainment
Last year when “The Walking
Dead” debuted, I was excited and
worried at the same time. That night I
rushed home to catch the show after
hearing great things about it online,
only to be saddened by the fact that I
had gotten there halfway through its
first run. But even though I missed
the first half of the episode, I was
hooked.
Eventually I saw the whole
episode, but “The Walking Dead”
is so good that even just a part of it
will suck you in and make you hope
that you are prepared for a zombie
apocalypse.
The premise of “The Walking
Dead” is actually based on a collection of graphic novels of the same
name. The story starts when deputy
sheriff Rick Grimes (Andrew Lincoln)
wakes up to find himself in the ruins
of a hospital after zombies have
destroyed the world that Rick once
knew. He eventually ventures out
into the world to find his family and
hopefully a place where he is safe
from the walkers (the zombies in the
show).
One of the things that the show
seems to do very well is it presents
a great group dynamic and lets one
see how people might act during
such an event. The show may be
about zombies, but its focus is on the
relationships and the burden of trying
to find a sanctuary and safe place to
live.
Of course, the zombies are the
big draw. And these zombies are
the shambling dead that you would
expect. The moans and growls and
how gory and gruesome the zombie
makeup is will always catch you off
guard. I’ve always been impressed
by it, and because of how nasty all
the zombies appear to be, the horror of the undead seems so real.
Basically, all of the effects are good.
There is a lot of blood splatter used,
which is more of stylish approach to
the show, but it adds to the overall
theatricality of it.
I haven’t been disappointed yet,
and look forward to watching many
more episodes of “The Walking
Dead.”
-- will shanahan

PROVIDED

Dawn of the dead

Zombieland
was one of
a new crop
of films and
TV shows
-- including
“The Walking
Dead” -- that
have helped
re-popularize
zombies (left).
Novel cover
Another take
on zombies
is the parody
Pride and
Prejudice
and Zombies,
which takes
the Jane
Austen classic
and sets it
in a more
horrifying
Edwardian
time.

staff writer
Zombies: the walking dead.
Once scary and terrifying because of
their slowness and hunger for brains, now
zombies have a new coolness -- they’re the
awesome monster of the decade.
With humorous books, popular movies, everyday TV and even live-action
games, zombies have taken on a life of their
own.
Some of the newly revived zombie
success is due to Max Brooks’ The Zombie
Survival Guide. Released in 2010, the book
is a popular take on the zombie resurgence.
Senior James Caraso said he likes
Brooks’ book because the author makes it
seem like zombies could really happen.
“He’s also written another book called
World War Z,” he added. “It really goes
hand and hand with the Zombie Survival
Guide.”
Books aren’t the only media zombies
have taken over. The History Channel has

been running an episode about where the
ideas of zombies came from. “Zombies: A
Living History” doesn’t try to prove zombies are real; instead, it tells exactly what the
title says -- their living history. As ironic as
it seems, zombies have “lived” throughout
time. The show features information about
the origination of the concept of zombies
and where they have turned up in history,
leading up to present day.
Senior Michael Golino points to movies and video games as a source of the public’s fascination for zombies.
“The popularity of zombies has grown
a lot. There’s tons of TV shows coming out,
like “The Walking Dead;” there’s movies
with zombies in them [and] there’s games
coming out with zombies in them,” he said.
“Zombies are getting really popular.”
He believes Call of Duty and its Nazi
Zombies helped bring about the resurgence
of the creatures.
Video games are not the only place
games like these have been played. The live
game Zombie Apocalypse made a brief appearance in the high school halls.
“I thought it was a very creative game,”
Assistant Principal Jeff Blankenship said.
“It definitely looked like it could be fun, but

probably wasn’t appropriate for a school
setting.”
The game’s creator for Wando High
School was senior Will Shanahan. “It was
an idea I heard about and I knew it wasn’t
going to transfer well to high school, but I
thought we could at least try,” he said.
Shanahan said he never expected it to
become as popular as it did, but since Wando was declared a “safe zone” the game can
no longer be played on the school campus.
Zombies are not just appearing in
the halls -- they were even at the Bands of
America Super Regional Tournament Oct.
29 when a high school band from Georgia did an entire competition show called
“Contagion” featuring zombies.
Zombie products also are the new
rage. Besides the common t-shirt, coffee
mug and poster, companies sell crawling
zombie doorstoppers, zombie brain gelatin
molds, remote control walking and growing zombie toys and zombie head cookie
jars. Each one of these are green and creepy
-- and thankfully dead.
With all of the media buzz zombies
have gotten and are continuing to receive,
it’s hard not feel these creatures have gotten a new life.

In order to judge which of these three
pizza joints is the best, we started off with
a competition. Calling all three restaurants
simultaneously, we ordered pizzas to the
same place, judging them based on how
fast they got to us with our food. The orders
were almost identical, yet the times were
enormously variable.

DeRoma’s got here fastest, by about ten
minutes, despite being the farthest away.
On top of that, their pizza was almost as
good as A Dough Re Mi’s, and the price was
outstanding. Feeding even more people for
about ten dollars less than others, all while
delivering comparable quality, DeRoma’s
won hands down.

A Dough Re Mi
After a race of pizza delivery boys, A
Dough Re Mi came in second place with a
delivery time around 45 to 50 minutes. A
Dough Re Mi was not the cheapest pizza
on the list, but for around $25, you get two
large pizzas that are more about the taste
than the grease that seem to accommodate

other pizzas. Delivery wise, they cared to
call me multiple times to update me where
they were and asked for directions to get
there faster.
A Dough Re Mi wants you to eat their
pizza and enjoy it. This place does not disappoint.

Matt’s Pizza Dept.
Matt’s Pizza Dept. arrived last in the
pizza race. I didn’t know when to expect
them to arrive because they didn’t call me,
unlike the other two restaurants. The customer service was average, and I was put
on hold while ordering.
The pizza itself was greasy and didn’t
have as much tomato sauce as the other

the

Shuffle

with
georgia
barfield

So what’s on your playlist?
Every issue a Tribal Tribune staffer
will share his/her taste in music,
selecting the top four songs they
think everyone should have on
their playlist.

Typically, it’s the 37-piece
instrument ensembles in
the background that make
Sufjan songs so great, but the
story-telling lyrics and simple
acoustic guitar accompaniment prove that Stevens can
do an incredible job sans
orchestra.

This song follows the style of
the band’s early music with the
quirky instrument pairings
(old school electric guitar and
African drumbeats) and the
random references to New
England prep culture (Benneton and Louis Vuitton).

pizzas, but it was slightly spicy.
And while Matt’s was the most expensive of the three, we got the least amount of
food for our money.
Overall, Matt’s was the slowest, had
the weakest customer service, and was the
worst value for the money.

“Casimir
Pulaski
Day”
Sufjan
Stevens
Illinois

“Cape Cod
Kwassa
Kwassa”
Vampire
Weekend
Vampire
Weekend

Picks & Peeves
with catie armstrong
staff writer

PICK: Processed foods
I get not wanting to take in pesticides. I understand
the importance and benefits of a healthy lifestyle,
but the only thing I know for sure is that I’m going to
die sooner or later. So forget a refined pallet; forget
clear arteries. I might as well enjoy my Oreos and
Big Mac in the meantime.

PEEVE: ID ditchers
Yes, I know it’s useless. Yes, I know that by the
time a teacher makes you put it on in her class,
she already knows who you are. No, it doesn’t
make our school safer. But it’s also not a great
inconvenience. Just put it on, [insert swear word]!
It’s a simple matter of someone asking you to do
something. You’re not too cool for it. It costs you
nothing. It causes you no physical or psychological
pain. So just do it.

PICK: Howie Long
This man is by far the best part of my Sundays.
He and his entire Fox gang are brilliant, adding a
perfect touch of humor to football, but Terry Bradshaw’s handsome years are fading. A word to the
business big-wigs with Fox and the NFL: forget
those calendars of topless cheerleaders. I’d pay
twice as much for a calendar of Howie clothed.

PEEVE: Wearing rosaries
Rosaries are not necklaces. For me and a billion
other Catholics, they are a religious symbol. They
are like Bibles. Men, women, people of all ages
wear them without a second thought to the great
offense it gives to practicing Catholics. Please, out
of respect for other religions, don’t deliberately degrade a religious symbol.
I really hate poetry. But for
this song’s short length of one
minute and 49 seconds, I actually appreciate the stuff. Paul
Simon’s lyrical genius radiates
through this song. The verses,
The Graduate paired with the beautiful
Sountrack
acoustic guitar melody, make
this one of my favorite songs
from the 1960’s folk rock duo.
“April Come
She Will”
Simon &
Garfunkel

“Ragged
Wood”
Fleet Foxes
Fleet
Foxes

Fleet Foxes sounds like an
early 1960’s rock band that
hid out in the woodsy mountains of Oregon for the last
40 years and recently came
out of hiding with a new
granola sound. This song
perfectly shows this theory.

Vocabulary

FUN

11.16.11

jessica afrin
staff writer

1. Bosky

Having an abundance of trees, shrubs or
bushes. A quite applicable use of this word is
“Wando High School is not a terribly bosky place;
however, the land surrounding it is full of tall,
green trees.”

2.Ucalegon

A neighbor whose house is on fire. This rare
word could come in handy on that odd day that
you happen to look out your window, see flames
devouring the house next-door, observe your
neighbor running in circles in his front yard and
sagely raise your teacup to your lips – with your
pinky raised – before calmly saying, “That poor,
poor ucalegon.” And then you might find your
heart and call 911 for the poor soul.

Tribal Entertainment 21
Have you ever wanted to confound friends by using
obscure words in your conversation? Check out this list
of weird, uncommon, wacky words and start preparing
your poker face for when your friends utter the inevitable
“Huh?”

3. Misodoctakleidist

Someone who hates practicing the piano. For
all of those who have ever taken piano lessons,
did you get stuck with that teacher who gave you the
songs you never liked? Or rather, you never wanted to
take lessons in the first place, but your parents thought
a “creative” extracurricular might be beneficial? Either
way, someone forced you to sit down on the piano
bench and practice once, thrice, maybe even five times
a week. You might like piano, and you might like playing, but all of that time wasted inside when perhaps
you wanted to run around outside twisted your heart
and caused you to regard every piano you come across
with a mean glare. I bet you never knew there was a
word for you.

4. Velleity

A mild desire; a wish, inclination or urge not
strong enough to lead to action. This is a common
phenomenon in day-to-day life. Some examples
are a guy’s recurring thoughts about asking a certain girl out and the insistent voice in your head
telling you to study.

5. Arachibutyrophobia

Fear of peanut butter sticking to the roof of
the mouth. This is a rather tragic phobia, indeed,
for the sufferers could never taste a peanut butter
and jelly sandwich, or a fluffernutter, or apples and
peanut butter or peanut butter and chocolate chips.
What kind of a world is it if there is a person too
scared to try a Reese’s Cup?

First-person shooter deathmatch
The biggest games of the
year face off in November

keanau ormson, associate editor

Two of gamings’ biggest shooters clash against
each other in a blockbuster face off. The two were
released within days of each other and with the obvious parallels of the games, fans are trying to decide which one is better.

Ever wonder what the top songs,
movies and TV shows are for
the month of November?
SELLING SONGS

vs.

Call of Duty: MW3 what consumers expect and more

Headquarters.
one simple question, “What would happen
This iteration’s addition to multiplayer if World War Three were to break out in
is Survival mode, which is just Infinity
our lifetime?” As you play as various speWard’s response to Gears of War’s Horde
cial force officers and the two protagonists
Mode. Waves and waves of enemies storm
from Modern Warfare 3 – Capt. Price and
you and your friends as you attempt to get Capt. “Soap” McTavish – you fight to try
as far as you can
and to kill the man
Call of Duty Modern Warfare 3
without being
who assisted in the
Released Nov. 8
killed.
cause of World War
But I will
Three, Makarov.
Developed by: Infinity Ward
have to admit, I
Modern WarRated: M
bought Modern
fare 3 is the bow
Warfare 3 for the campaign, not the mulon top of the Call of Duty franchise. I’m
tiplayer. Modern Warfare 2 left me with
satisfied with what Infinity Ward and Acone of the greatest war game campaigns I
tivision has presented from what they’ve
had ever played. Modern Warfare 3 picked had to work with. I’m certain the COD
up directly from the end of its predecessor fanboys will be pleased with the game in
and jumps right into the action. It answers its entirety.

Battlefield 3: the most realistic video game to date
Gorgeous. If there is one word I can
use to describe EA’s Battlefield 3, it is
gorgeous. I was more than willing to give
up the 1.5 gigabytes of space on my hard
drive in order to download the High
Definition graphics the game has to offer.
In the campaign, you play as Sergeant Henry Blackburn who has been
court-martialed for an unknown reason.
Blackburn is being interrogated by two
CIA agents who are trying to uncover a
terrorist plot that apparently Blackburn
is aware of. Most of the game is through
Blackburn’s flashbacks, but there are also
other side characters that come into play,
mainly in the vehicle missions.
All-in-all, it’s a decent campaign.
What I couldn’t get past was the excellent execution of the Frostbite 2.0 en-

Top twos

gine. The engine, developed by DICE, was
And all of that is just before I reached
introduced in Battlefield 3 and has brought the multiplayer.
the game’s graphics to the next-generation.
The multiplayer is a safe return from
The phenomenal lighting effects made
Battlefield: Bad Company 2. Game modes
me stop and want to just look around in
include Conquest, Rush, Squad Deathalmost every level, and I won’t lie -- it got
match, Squad Rush and the return of Team
me killed on several
Deathmatch. It’s
occasions.
ridiculously hard
Battlefield 3
But once you
to go back to the
Released Oct. 31
move the character
campaign after
Developed by: Dice
for the first time, it’s
playing only a few
Rated: M
surreal. There’s no
matches of multistiff movement of
player.
the characters as you run, it actually feels
I’ll admit I was worried about the
like your character is running for dear life. maps being too large for any kind of real
The gun bobs up and down and you can
action; I was wrong. The inclusion of
feel Blackburn move his arms as he runs
vehicles, both land and air, makes Battleand as you fire your weapon there is a real- field 3 one of the best console multi-player
life recoil coming from the weapons.
experiences I’ve ever had.

After months of anticipation, it’s
finally here. The pinnicle of the Modern
Warfare franchise: Call of Duty: Modern
Warfare 3.
There are a few things that have kept
the multiplayer experience from becoming dull, but not enough to impress me.
The feel of the character is exactly the
same as Modern Warfare: 2’s since the
Modern Warfare 3 engine is just a small
variation of the previous titles. There is a
complete change to the killstreak reward
system in the sense that now you are
awarded “pointstreaks” for completing
objectives and other sorts in addition to
the kills that you have – that’s right, you
can get a Predator missile by planting the
bomb in Sabotage or capturing a base in

A-List

the

Reviews

of the

month

Ultimate Guitar Tabs

Even if you wouldn’t classify yourself as a muscian -- the only use I have
for my bass is to put things on top of it -Ultimate Guitar Tabs might be worth its
relatively expensive price. This is an app
for the website ultimateguitar.com, the
best place to get tabs for learning how
to play real songs. The app actually has
a better design than the website, and it
also has special tools, like a chord finder.
-- tanner hoisington

Freshman
AJ
Gawryluk
was the firstplace finisher
for Wando during the cross
country state
meet Nov. 5.
(below)
Members of
the girls cross
country team
hoist the State
Championship
trophy after
capturing the
title Nov. 5.

with boys
varsity basketball coach...

David
Eaton

Q
A

What are your
expectations for the
season?

We had a good year last year,
and we have a lot of returners.
My expectations are really high
and I think the players are too.
We think that we are one of the
best teams in the state, so we
think we should go to a state
championship game.

Q
A

Q
A

We’ve added a lot of younger
guys from the JV team. We feel
like we have a lot more energy
and a lot more shooting to go
along with our great athletes
that are seniors.

How will the gaps from
the seniors that graduated last year be filled?

We have worked on it all
offseason. We lost some talent,
but we think we have a lot
more talent to replace it. John
Swinton and Niji Pasha who
left were great teammates and
had great leadership. We have
worked all offseason producing new leaders.

What are the biggest
games on your schedule?
We play in a couple big Christmas tournaments—one in
West Ashley and one in North
Charleston. The region games
vs. Goose Creek and West
Ashley will be the biggest ones.

Girls XC wins first in
state, boys win third
elizabeth levi

writing editor

First place is no stranger for the girls
cross country team, and placing first at the
State Cross Country Championship on
Nov. 5 in Columbia came as another reason
for the team to celebrate.
The championship marked the end
of the season for both the girls’ and boys’
teams. The boys ended up placing third in
state, placing behind Lexington and Stratford.
Girls’ Coach Marie Domin said the
state championship was a great ending to
the season.
“I hoped we would win because we’ve
been ranked one since September, so we
were going in with the target on our backs
being ranked number one,” she said. “Of
course you hope for the win, but my expectations for the girls were to give it their all
and give it their best and hopefully do the
best that we have all year.”
The girls did give it their all. Junior
Georgia Compton was the first on the team
to cross the finish line and ended up placing sixth overall in the state with a time of
18:58.
“Right when I crossed the finish line,
it was kind of like a relief, like ‘I’m exhausted,’” she said, “but it was a good kind of
feeling, like ‘I’m on top of the world.’”

The team has been training since the
summer, attending cross country camp
together, training through running
miles and learning about the nutrition and sleep practices which would
help them succeed. All of their practice paid off with the state title, the
team’s second in three years.
“[The highlight of the season]
was winning State, but I think more
than anything, to me, it was them
being a team,” Domin said. “They
got along, they supported each
other, they encouraged each
other and I think that you
can’t have a true team unless all those elements
are there.”

The boys cross country team’s coach,
Ian Banker, is also proud of his team’s collaboration. Freshman Andrew Gawryluk was the first from Wando to cross
the finish line. He placed 11th in the
state overall with a time of 16:09. But
together, they placed third in state.
“Last year we were a very, very
good team. We still took third in the
state, but I didn’t feel like we were the
same close-knit team,” Banker said.
“I feel like [this year] we were very,
very close-knit, and that’s something
you always strive for, especially with
a group of guys here. You’ve got to
be able to push each other. So us
coming together was very, very
pleasing.”

COURTESY OF MARIE DOMIN

Q
A

What changes have been
made since last season?

Running to victory
COURTESY OF JOE RICE

11.16.11

24 Tribal Sports

FACES ON THE

Senior
Caroline
Hairfield
plays in the
Nov. 1 tennis
match.

FIELD

Junior Austin Fister

IAN HURLOCK/staff photographer

Recorded a game
high of 10 tackles
in the 22-7 Wando
win versus Stratford Nov. 4.

Senior Amelia Stemke

Was named MAXPREPS volleyball
player of the week
for South Carolina
Oct. 3-9.

Senior Dezmon Venning

Lowerstate champs

Tennis team wins
Helped to move
the Warriors to the Lowerstate title,
next round of the
takes second at state
playoffs with his
madison ivey, sarah yergin
fumble recovery for
staff writers
a touchdown Nov.
Heart pumping, adrenaline flowing
11 vs. Spartanburg. and feet flying across a green court: state

Senior Savannah Miller
Was named an
All-State Volleyball
Player by the S.C.
Coaches Association.

Senior Tinsley Hallman
Was named an
All-State Volleyball Player by the
S.C. Coaches Association.

championships for tennis. The Lady Warriors’ varsity tennis team faced and conquered the Lowerstate title by beating Lexington Nov. 4 and they were ready to take
on Upperstate competitor Mauldin, the
team Wando has faced
five years in a row for
the ultimate title.
“After we won
[Lowerstate], and we
knew we were in [State],
we knew we could do
anything,” senior CaroJakious
line Hairfield said.
But a return of the
state title wasn’t to be, as the girls fell to
Mauldin Nov. 6 in Cayce, S.C.
“I was sad, but I know as a team we did
our best,” Hairfield said.
The team had acheived an 18-3 regular
season record coming into the State championship.
However, Mauldin won the match

4-2, after the Lady Warriors played a close
The hard work is not only for winning
match in junior Catherine Martin’s eyes.
games; it’s for the love of the game.
“Competition was tough,” Martin said.
“There is nothing better than being on
“I played a really good player during the the court,” Martin said.
championship, so I was really nervous,” she
Spending so much time together has
said. “I got on the court and I don’t know, made the team close.
I got really tight, but afterwards, I mean we
“[The team] has a real big sense of
played a good match. It was really close.”
community,” Jakious said. “JV always
T h e
goes
to
team has
the varsity
not let the
matches
loss
diand some
minish
varsity
Assistant Coach Leigha Jakious p l a y e r s
their spirit,
though.
go to JV
“Once we got second, it was pretty matches.”
thrilling that we had made it this far,” As“Even before matches the girls help
sistant Coach Leigha Jakious said. It is her one another out by trying to calm their
first year coaching at Wando -- along with nerves,” Martin said.
head coach Tyler Davis.
“We warm up and just joke around a
The entire team worked hard in the little to get the pressure off,” Martin said.
off-season in preparation for their 2011
After winning a title as a freshman
season to begin. Each one of the players and falling to Mauldin two years in a row,
devoted many hours in hopes of having a Martin has one goal for her senior year—
strong season. Hairfield spent her summer to earn back Wando’s place as state champracticing three days a week, six hours a pions.
day and Martin, the number one player on
“I hope we can win state next year,”
the team, works year round to improve her she said.
skills.
In terms of her hopes for the 2012 sea“I’m playing tennis every day, now son, Asst. Coach Jakious said, “I hope we
even without tennis season. I’m out there can get as far as we did this year and I hope
three and a half hours a day,” Martin said.
the girls can have just as much fun.”

Once we got second, it was pretty
thrilling that we made it this far

11.16.11

Tribal Sports 25

Junior overcomes
impaired vision to
play varsity football
jonathan rice

sports editor
“Stand behind this line and read me
line six please.”
“E, D, F, C, Z, P”
“Now with only your left eye.”
“E, D, F, C, Z, P”
“Next, I need you to cover your left
eye with your hand.”
“I can’t really tell what it says.”
When junior Christian Hart was 12
months old, his parents noticed he wasn’t
walking like his older brother did.
“We didn’t think much of it, but we
also noticed that we thought one of his
eyes was a little lazy,” said Cynthia Hart,
Christian’s mother. Doctors in Greenville told Hart’s parents not to worry, but
Dr. Robert Weaver of Mount Pleasant told
them to get it checked out.
A visit with an ophthalmologist confirmed their worst fears: retinoblastoma,
a rare form of cancer on the retina mostly
diagnosed in children ages one to two. The
tumor was visible without magnification,
but had not spread up his optic nerve,
which leads to the brain.
Twenty-two cycles of external beam
radiation were used to eliminate the tumor.
“I have a scar on my retina, and have
about 10 percent vision right now,” Hart
said.
But reduced vision and a tumor

NATHAN GLYEDER/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

Hart’s got heart

haven’t stopped Hart, who is
the passing specialist for the
Warriors as well as a member
of the track team.
It wasn’t always easy
learning to do physical activities – even riding a bike. “He
constantly ran into things, like
the mailbox or a parked car,”
said Mrs. Hart.
As a child, Hart wore goggles while playing basketball
as well as a visor on his facemask while playing football.
And while his parents still are
cautious -- he wears a visor on
his facemask when he’s on the
field -- football coach Jimmy Junior Christian Hart prepares to throw the ball as
he warms his arm up on Nov. 9.
Noonan called Hart the Wargives up and is always encouraging us to do
riors’ “best pure passer.”
On long yardage, third down situa- better. He is a team player.”
Hart, who has no loss in depth perceptions, Hart plays quarterback and tries to
tion after his surgery, said he throws with
move the Warriors down the field.
“I run the two minute offense,” Hart his right hand so his “good” eye faces the
said. “The hardest thing about playing field when he throws. “I’ve gotten used
sports blind in one eye is trying to see the to it,” he said about playing with reduced
whole field at once, and knowing where vision in one eye. “I was lucky it was at a
my receivers are at all times. I really have young age and I had time to adjust.”
When the Warriors need to put the
to challenge myself not to stare straight at
a receiver because that gives the defender ball in the air, Noonan sends Hart out on
the field and knows that he is more than
more time to react and make a play.”
While many of his teammates are capable of completing a pass for a big gain.
“From his sophomore year to junior
aware of his impaired vision, junior offensive lineman Bryan Patrick said Hart hav- year, he grew tremendously as a player,” the
ing to overcome these obstacles keeps him third-year head coach said. “He is a hard
grounded. “Every time I want to complain worker, he leads by example and he works
about practice I realize he has to deal with hard in the weight room. These will all help
more so I keep quiet and play,” he said. Hart him when he is competing for the starting
is “a hard worker who never quits. He never job next year.”

S peaking

of

Warriors prepare
for home
playoff game

For the first time in the school’s history, the Wando varsity football team will
host a second-round playoff game, facing
the 6-6 Blythewood Bengals Nov. 18.
The Warriors (7-5) are coming off of
a 21-7 win against Spartanburg Nov. 11.
Head coach Jimmy Noonan said
he believed the Warriors were mentally
prepared for the game and were ready to
beat the Vikings at Gibbs Stadium.
“I’m very pleased with the way we
approached the week and the game,”
Noonan said. “Our guys were not intimidated going to the upper state and playing against an 8-3 team.”
Noonan wants to see the same force
the Warriors showed against the Vikings
in the game against the Bengals.
“I hope the players will take last
week’s approach and apply it to this week’s
game,” Noonan said. “Blythewood is very
athletic and has a lot of team speed, so
we will have our hands full for sure. But
I know our guys will adjust accordingly.”
Noonan believes the Warriors need
consistency in order to advance to Lowerstate. “As far as the preparation is concerned, our approach is pretty consistent. It’s routine at this particular point,”
Noonan said. “The light switch switches
off from one week and cuts on for the
next. As the week progresses, it will go
from a physical preparation to a mental
preparation and they’re both going to
need to be at their peek when the whistle
blows on Friday.”
-- keanau ormson

S ports

What will you watch if the entire NBA season is locked out?

Freshman
Jhalen Ascue

“I’ll probably find the
Canadian League or
something. I need my
basketball.”

Sophomore
Richard Toliver

School of Corrections
Specialist
James Edwards
“I’m not really sure...

maybe Overseas
League Basketball.”

“College and high
school basketball.
Those are the prettiest
forms of basketball.”

Girls volleyball team ends season, seniors are awarded for
their great play
katie kornegay

staff writer

A disappointing loss to White Knoll in the second
round of the playoffs Nov. 3 ended a solid season for the
girls volleyball team.
After the 3-1 loss, Wando’s overall record was 33-6
and Coach Alexis Glover reached her 700th win.
“We should have beaten White Knoll to advance
to Lowerstate,” Glover said, “but all in all I felt like we
improved throughout the year and we played with a lot of
intensity and a lot of bravery.”
Those new aspects of the team helped the team beat
Ashley Hall for the first time in three years. Although
Ashley Hall defeated Wando in their first meeting, the
Warriors turned it around and beat Ashley Hall in an away
game on the rival’s senior night.
“It was really great to be going to Ashley Hall on their
senior night and beating them,” senior Katy Weaver said.
“It was a huge accomplishment for our season.”
Honors received during the season included AllTournament for the Wando Invitational Oct. 14 for Weaver
and senior Tinsley Hallman, as well as seniors Amelia

LIZ BENSON/asst. photography editor

Stemke and Savannah Miller receiving All-Tournament
recognition at Dorman High School’s Tournament of
Champions Sept. 23.
Known for the team’s strong offense, Wando worked
on improving their defensive side, Glover said. “I think
our overall team defense was our biggest improvement,”
she said.
Glover named Miller, Weaver and several other
players, particularly seniors, as important players on
defense. Seven of the 16 varsity players are seniors.
Although that is a large portion of the team, Coach
Glover is not worried about next year.
“I felt like our seniors gave great representation of our
year,” she said. “Nine returners. That’s not bad. We’ll pick

a few kids from junior varsity and we’re ready to go again.”
Seniors Hallman and Miller got multiple awards,
including being named to the All-State team and NorthSouth All Stars. Along with Hallman and Miller, Erin
Courtenay was chosen for All-Region.
In addition, Courtenay, Miller and Stemke were
named MAXPREPS state players of the week throughout
the season.
A signing on Nov. 15 honored several seniors, who
are continuing their volleyball careers in college. Signees
included first year varsity player, Carson Gosnell for the
Citadel, Catie Hurt to Charleston Southern, Hallman
to Gardner Webb and Stemke, who will be signing with
Wofford.

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11.16.11

Tribal Ads 27

Help Center
For: family and friends
• Al-anon and Alateen
843-762-6999
alanonsc_d7@yahoo.com

Learning to wait for a change
God helps
sibling get through
troubled time
COLUMN BY

josie maszk, editor in chief

My big sister is a drug addict. I don’t
understand. We are an upper middle class
family. My parents are married. My family
is close. She is smart and beautiful. It’s a
fact though. She is an addict.
I don’t know how to act. I don’t know
what I’m supposed to feel.
Sometimes I am numb. She cleaned
out my wallet. She crashed her car. She
stole from our grandparents. She broke
her promise. She showed up to work high.
Her boyfriend hit her. Her best friend
betrayed her. She used. But I’ve heard it
all before. I want to feel something every
time, but its too exhausting.
Sometimes I hate her. I want to
shout, “someone look at me!” When she
argues with my parents about her lies on
my birthday, when she gets kicked out of
rehab the week before the biggest test of
my life, throwing everyone into confusion.
But then I feel a guilty shame for making
this about me when everyone’s needs
are being neglected, everyone is hurting,
again.
Sometimes I wish she would grow
up. She takes the birthrights of the oldest
child but refuses to be mature. She forces
me to be the first to do everything even
though
she’s four
years older
than me.
I have to
trudge
through
the
wreckage
she’s left in her past in order to move
forward. But then I feel sorry for her,
knowing how much trouble she had with
the things I breeze through.
Sometimes I swear I can’t bear it. I
want to yell in her face, “How could you
do this to us again?” When she leaves with
our valuables in her pockets and comes
home pale, thin, and covered in track
marks. I want to push her and be furious.
But when I see her I speak as if everything
is normal. We joke about “Scrubs” and

COURTESY OF JOSIE MASZK

28 Tribal Opinions

Senior Josie Maszk(right) and Josie’s older sister(left) smile for the camera as they share a moment
together.

slushies. I am scared that when I yell, this
will be the time she doesn’t come back.
This next high will be it. And then she’ll be
gone, so I hide my anger.
Sometimes I want to weep. She steals
from my family. She breaks my parent’s
hearts over and over, and I have to sit and
watch. I just want them to do it - kick her
out of the house, drop her off at the shelter,
let her blow her mind if she wants to. But
then I am horrified at my own thoughts.
She is my sister, and what if something
happened to her? My parents would be
crushed and broken. I would be crushed
and broken.
Sometimes
I want to
force it. I
want my
parents
to keep
her home,
Senior Josie Maszk
make her
get a job,
make her follow the rules, make her see a
therapist, make her go to meetings, make
her get clean. But then I remember that
won’t work. She has to want to change.
She has to hit a point low enough that she
wants out – for real this time. I don’t like
to wait. I’m impatient.
Sometimes I want more than anything
for her to be clean. That will fix everything,
right? It will change her. It will last. But
then I remember that her addiction isn’t
even the whole problem. The problem is

I am scared that when I yell, this

will be the time she doesn’t come
back. This next high will be it...

her heart. Until God changes her heart
she will still be just as selfish as she is
now. She will still be empty and broken
inside. She will still shoot up, eventually.
Then I wonder if she will ever change,
and I become angry and fearful.
Sometimes I doubt that God can
really save her. My sister grew up in
church right next to me and was raised
by the same parents, but she doesn’t hear
the freedom I do in the words of the
Gospel. She is plagued by her broken
past. What if she never understands that
God makes lives new? I see her resistant,
selfish heart, and I am scared out of my
mind. But then I remember how my heart
was no different from hers, and God
changed my life. He took my nasty, filthy,
resistant heart, shriveled by insecurity,
swollen with jealousy and malice, coated
in guilt, bloated with selfish pride, and
buried under the weight of high school
expectations. He changed it to a heart
that is full of confidence, brimming with
love for other people, clean before God,
longing to serve, and is free from the
weight of meaningless expectations. If
God can change my screwed up heart,
then I know He can change anyone’s.
I don’t know how to act, and I don’t
know what I’m supposed to feel right
now, but I wait in the comfort that God
can change my sister’s life, even if it feels
painfully hopeless.
Josie’s sister is currently in a halfway
house and has been clean for a few
months.

11.16.11

Most valuable
possessions not
just material goods

COLUMN BY

amanda sharpley, staff writer
It had been two months since we began living in our
new house. We were not even close to finishing unpacking everything — and then we were threatened with the
possibility that we never would.
Think about it. If a natural disaster were to strike
your area, what would you grab? What would you hold
close as you fled? Piled up and bulging, suitcases filled
with designer clothes; laptops, cameras, stereos and
TVs? All those excessive comforts and luxuries modern
technology has laid at your feet? But if it all blew away
in a matter of seconds -- whirled upwards into oblivion,
unkempt by any shroud or your desperate attempts to
preserve it all. Once the threat was over, how would you
feel? Would any of it matter?
This was the question I asked myself Aug. 26 when
Hurricane Irene threatened. My greatest mission, my
mom never failed to stress to me, was the packing of all
100 percent absolutely-necessary-only items.
It seemed simple enough. After all, I had not lived
here long enough to where I could really call this place
home. Nothing extraordinary had happened inside these
walls. The house was disposable.
Yet still, as I stood there in the middle of my room,
gazing and taking in all of these tokens I had gathered
throughout my life, I became flustered.
Peering into my closet at all the patterns of fabric
dangling in the shapes of dresses, jackets and blouses,
I think of all my fine things. But more importantly, as I
take note of each one, I’m taken back to when I last wore
them: moments, memories, and new experiences each
occurring as the different pieces of cloth had clung to my
body.
As my eyes rest on more things with memories attached to them, I’m struck with a realization that holds
the key to my dilemma -- a key I had carried all this time.
The value wasn’t held in the items before me. Material
wealth, after all, can be regained. What made me so
afraid of losing it all was the protruding fear of simultaneously losing the parts of my life I had subconsciously
linked to all of them.
People’s homes are destroyed. But that does not
destroy the images they carry with them of growing up
there. As one goes on with their life, new items of value
and new memories attached to them will come. Electronics, fashion... They’re always changing, always recreating.
Letters written by loved ones that irrevocably changed
your life, gifts from those deeply cherished, you may
never again see. It is those items; the ones that can never
be copied, that are utterly unique.
And it was that sentiment that brought me to reach
my final decision: a yearbook of old friends -- remnants
of my past lives, and their last written words to me as
they said farewell -- the last one I’ll ever have from
Mariner High -- and a teddy bear gifted to me at birth by
an aunt that’s no longer apart of my life. It is these items I
will treasure forever in rain, shine and even hurricanes.

Tribal Opinions 29

Brace for impact
Poor judgement
of family member
leaves lasting scars

that chug of a laugh again.
I don’t think he realized the impact he has on
everyone. If he knew, do you think he would have worn
a helmet? We all had this glimmer of hope that his death
wasn’t caused by not wearing a helmet. We didn’t want to
COLUMN BY
believe he could still be alive if he had worn one.
kristen popovich, staff writer
When the autopsy reports came back, we found out it
was the head injuries that killed him.
I remember every single detail from that night. Aug.
It made us all sick; if we could have gotten wearing a
8 at 9:24 p.m., I walked into my house from band practice.
helmet into his head, we would still have him.
I remember the relief I felt
I don’t understand; we have seat belt
that I was home from the long
laws, but not helmet laws? With something as
practice.
dangerous as a motorcycle, it’s not required
I remember what I was
to wear a safety helmet? There were 4,595
wearing.
fatal crashes involving motorcycles across the
I remember the song that I
United States in 2010. In those crashes, more
was humming in my head.
than 84,000 were injured.
I remember the tears
I find it ridiculous that we don’t have
rolling down faces faster than
required helmet laws. Helmets are estimated
I could understand what was
to be 37 percent effective in preventing fatal
happening.
injuries to motorcycle riders and 41 percent for
My sister Lauren was sitting
motorcycle passengers. The National Highway
on the steps with her head on
Traffic Safety Administration estimates that
her knees. Dad was standing
helmets saved the lives of 1,483 motorcyclists in
ready to tell us what was
2010. Still today four states are still 100 percent
happening, his eyes big and red.
free of helmet laws. Their argument is they like
Mom was sitting in the big chair
the wind in their hair and it’s their right. So it’s
in her baby blue nightgown
okay for you to risk death every single time you
clutching a box of tissues.
turn the ignition on?
My first thought was that
South Carolina law requires anyone under
my grandpa had passed away; he
the age of 21 to wear an approved protective
is sick and it would have come
helmet when either operating or riding as a
as less of a shock. But my dad
passenger on a motorcycle or two-wheeled
turned to my sister and me, and
motorized vehicle. What about the people that
in a quiet voice he squeaked out
are over 21? Why is it okay for them not to
that my Uncle Rick had died.
wear a helmet, what makes them better or more
I fell to the ground crying; I
likely not to get in an accident?
didn’t know what to do. I was in
If so many people’s lives could be saved
such a shock: the man that was
from wearing helmets, why is it legal not to
always there for me was now
wear one? If my uncle would have been wearing
gone?
a helmet, he would still be here today.
Dad continued: Uncle Rick
No
one should have to go
was in a motorcycle accident.
through what
A woman in the car in front
- 149 polled
I’ve been
of him looked as though she
through.
was continuing to go through a
yellow light at a busy intersection but then hit the brakes
quickly. My uncle ran into the back of her car, and he
went flying off the bike.
He wasn’t wearing a helmet.
His new wife had always told him to wear one, but he
never did since it wasn’t a law.
He left behind his wife, his two kids plus one on
the way; he left behind his family; he left behind all the
people who loved him. We would never get to see that
unforgettable witty smile, and we would never get to hear

According to S.C.
motorcycle laws, it is
unlawful for a person under the age of
21 to operate or ride
a motorcycle unless
wearing an approved
protective helmet.Do
you agree that helmets should not be
required for those of
legal age?

Yes: 40%
No: 60%

If given the choice,
would you wear a
helmet?

Yes: 83%
No: 17%

11.16.11

30 Tribal Editorial

The Charleston area is often considered one of the most beautiful destinations in the country. Whether you have
lived here your whole life or you have
visited for only a day, the calm harbor
waters, a sunset on the
Wando River or the luxury
of our beaches have surely
taken your breath away
from time to time.
But there is no question that, when
it comes to our distinctive features,
our true uniqueness comes from our
salt-water marshes. Fisherman, boaters
and anyone wishing to observe these
wonders have overcome obstacles such
as oysters and pluff mud to gain access
to this valuable resource. Recently, the
Town of Mount Pleasant opened its $2.5
million boardwalk park at Shem Creek
to the public Oct. 18.
At first glance, the beautiful array
of boardwalks appears to be a marvel of
characteristic Lowcountry life. It provides access to the marsh and to fishing
docks and it promotes business for local
restaurants that line Shem Creek. Even
the objections from waterfront homeowners have been minimal.
Yet all one has to do is look down
into the pluff mud-tinted waters to find
one major problem: littering.
On a single day, just two weeks after
the park’s opening, 35 bottles, 10 cans,
six Styrofoam cups, two pairs of shoes,
five pieces of debris possibly related
to construction and 14 miscellaneous
plastic objects were sighted from the
boardwalk.
And although three seemingly
unused trash bins are provided, one of
them was being overtaken by the high
tide and could have spilled its contents
if it had gone unnoticed. These shocking numbers and observations put local
species at increased risk of entangle-

MICHAEL O’BRIEN/photographer

Preserving the beauty

ment, poisoning or habitat loss due to the
destruction of their home environment.
Even if the waters were polluted before
construction, the amount of waste has
increased significantly since then.
And although the
marshes may appear to
be tranquil wastelands on
the surface, they are the
reproductive environments for more than
half of South Carolina’s salt-water species.
According to the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources, about 15
percent of our marshes have been dammed
off from the ocean because of the immense
amounts of litter and even more have been
damaged. The organisms affected include
blue crabs, red fish and shrimp, as well as
the food supply for countless other species. Local fishing and docking businesses
have lost profits due to increased pollution
and decreased crustacean harvests. More
pollution is the last thing our environment
needs.
Even worse, Shem Creek is located directly across from a natural bird sanctuary
where pelicans and oyster-catchers thrive.
Since Charleston County Parks and
Recreation backed out of the park's maintenance and ownership due to expenses,
their environmental cleaning resources are
not available. The Town of Mount Pleasant may not be obligated to clean up the
littering, but it has park rules that prohibit
certain activities at the entrance (including “littering”), and has provided multiple
trash receptacles throughout the park.
According to the Department of Natural
Resources, the Town of Mount Pleasant
currently has no obligation to clean the
marsh. However, the department has taken
our observations into consideration and
will encourage the town to establish organized maintenance.
The remaining problem is a moral one.
It’s up to us to make a difference.

Staff editorial

Talk of the tribe
Either the town,
people who do community service, or
they should require
people in jail to do
service.
- Senior Alex Hairfield

Well I thought this
would have been
a nice, romantic
walk...

WILLIAM SHANAHAN/cartoonist

Who should be responsible for cleaning the marsh areas
of public parks?

A clean-up crew or
people that want
to do community
service.
- Junior
Gina Romanelli

The people who
own it [the park] or
volunteers.
– Sophomore
Joseph Landing

The town, because
the littering is their
problem, because it
is their people who
are doing it.
– Freshman
Jeffrey Ibey

The Tribal Tribune is published by the
newspaper staff at Wando High School,
1000 Warrior Way, Mt. Pleasant, SC 29466.
Advertising rates are available upon request by calling 843-849-2830, ext. 23903
or emailing tribaltribune@gmail.com.
The Tribal Tribune has been established as
an open forum for student expressions as
outlined by the Student Press Law Center.
The Tribal Tribune accepts only signed
letters to the editor. We reserve the right
to edit for space and style as well as to select which to run. The Tribal publishes 10
times a year. The Tribal Tribune maintains
memberships in South Carolina Scholastic
Press Association, Southern Interscholastic Press Association, Columbia Scholastic
Press Association and National Scholastic
Press Association.
Wando High School
1000 Warrior Way
Mount Pleasant, SC 29464
(843) 849-2830

Letters to the editors
Re: Pre-gamin’ not fun
and games

Dear editors of the Tribal Tribune:
In the last issue of the Tribal Tribune,
there was one article for which we must
object to strongly. The staff editorial,
“Pregamin’: Not Just Fun and Games,”
promotes, what we consider, an utterly
ineffective approach to deterring teenage
drinking. It was essentially a 300 word
regurgitation of the “Just Say No” mantra
we’ve all been spoon-fed since we were
little.
We are expected to be adults in the
next years- to go to college, to make life
changing decisions- and very importantly,
to know why underage drinking is bad,.
The article glosses over the effects of alcohol, making only a passing allusion or two

Re: Student Resource Officer

Dear editors of the Tribal Tribune:
I am writing about the article about
school resource officers. I think the SROs
need to stay at Wando.
The article said that all the money
should go to the guidance counselors, but
SROs are different from guidance counselors. Guidance counselors are not always
available because they are either in a meeting or with a student and parents to get
their classes right. Guidance counselors
are more helpful with classes and college.
Students don’t always feel comfortable
with counselors. Guidance counselors
don’t connect with all students.
SROs help prevent problems. If you
say you need advice on something, an SRO
will keep it that way and give you advice.
They really try to get to th-e bottom of
things. If they hear something like a student is going to get ganged after school or
somebody’s about to fight, students can let
the cops know. They’ll get to the bottom of
situations.
If a student is being harassed or
bullied by another student, they will take
care of it right then and there to make
that student stop bothering you. Officer
[Angela] Peterson, Officer [Michael]
Reidenbach and Officer [Sean] Weber do
their very best to stop violence in Wando.
They are working hard to stop the violence
and drugs.

Tribal Opinions 31

to becoming sick from drinking; the actual
dangers of teen drinking- alcohol poisoning, drunk driving, etc- are not even mentioned. The importance of emphasis on the
reasons why underage drinking is wrong
is blatantly over looked. Instead, there is
simply a call for policies that curtail one’s
right to privacy and turn the teachers who
volunteer to work the ticket stand into
TSA agents performing airport security
screenings. This disregards the true root of
the problem.
We once were taught a valuable
axiom: no why, no comply. The gist of
the principle is that the best way to elicit
a desired behavior is to provide a logical
reason for compliance. We found this article to be void of any compelling reasons
to persuade those engaging in underage

alcohol consumption to stop. An article
containing logic and reason, culminating
in the conclusion that teen drinking is
wrong, would appeal to the young adult
mind. This article went straight to the
conclusion, assuming that the reader is
beyond benefitting from basic reminders
of the ill effects of alcoholic consumption.
We fully understand the author’s
feelings toward this subject, as little can
be said in support of underage drinking.
But, the way in which this sentiment is expressed to the reader matters a great deal.
We, the students of Wando High School,
are entitled to appeal to logic when asked
to adopt new rules and regulations regarding our affairs.
Junior Benjamin J. Rabin
Senior Nicholas S. Sottile

I have seen SROs sit down with any
students that are about to get in trouble;
they have one-on-one conversations with
the students. An SRO can tell when a
student is about to fight and they will grab
you in a hot second before you get into a
fight.
Another reason why they should stay
is that fights happen over the weekend
and it’s not over with and they are going to
bring it to school. Of course, it’s going to
be on Facebook -- a student can say, “Hey
a fight happened over the
weekend and
they say it’s not
over and they
still beefin.” An
SRO can get
the issue out
of a student. SROs show a lot of positives
in students’ behavior by talking to them to
tell them what’s wrong from right. I really
do give them credit for giving students
positive contact, which shows that they
really care about students.
SROs are also important when problems are happening. When students are
fighting, some adults just stand there and
let them fight because they are afraid they
can get hit. SROs just come in there and
grab them by their waist like the Incredible
Hulk with no problem.

If the SROs leave, then who’s going
to protect the students? It is going to feel
unsafe in school when SROs are gone, but
with them around everyone feels really
safe. Some students take school as their
second home and SROs are like their
security during school hours.
If something happened at school, like
a fight, and SROs are not there, the school
will have to call a police officer to stop it
and they might be on another call. There
could be a serious situation they are dealing with
in the
street
and by
the time
they
come,
the
fighting students and others can get seriously hurt.
These are the reasons why I don’t
want SROs to be removed from schools.
We really do need them, and without
them school will get out of hand. In
conclusion, teachers and students will be
miserable if the SROs leave.
Senior Khadijah Venning

I have seen SROs sit down with
any students that are about to get
in trouble...

Corrections from Oct. 20 issue: The head coach of the Wando state championship swim team is Allyson Brown. Nick
Reece is the assistant coach. In “Student Resource Officer,” SRO Michael Reidenbach said, “One thing I guess people
do not realize is that a majority of incidents,” not incidences.

11.16.11

32 Tribal Finale
SARAH RUSSELLD/staff

First in line, children smile in anticapation for the
full and fun day ahead.
Sitting in the hallway, senior Ronnette Bacote listens to her buddy read his book
that they picked out together earlier in the day.

Kids

helping

Buddies hang on to senior Antwon
Wright and enjoy the piggyback ride
around the playground.
LIZ BENSON/ast. editor

High school
students
spend time in
the classroom
with their buddies, helping
with school
work. Freshman Meagan
Yeager helps
out with vocabulary and
other grammar
work for the
day.

Elementary schoolers get to ride bikes
allong the side walk. Senior Tyler Fox
helps his buddy out by giving him a push.

Kids

Senior Marshall Carter spends time with her buddies on the
playground enjoying the fun, as one elementary school child pulls off
her glasses.

S

MADDIE BAILEY/staff

tudents from teacher Christopher Poston’s sociology classes
visited St. James Santee Elementary School Nov. 8 for a “Buddy
Day,” equipped with 6,000 books for the
students and time to spend with each
buddy.
This is the fifth year Wando’s sociology classes have been involved in the
project, but this group’s first at St. JamesSantee. The number of donated books
was 1,500 more than last year’s total.
St. James-Santee students will be
visiting Wando Dec. 9 in a continuation of
the “buddy” program. Plans include next
year’s group of sociology students meeting with St. James-Santee again next fall.
SARAH RUSSELL/staff

High schoolers help the
elementary
schoolers pick
out books.
The children
got to pick
out 26 books
each.
Senior
Haley
Brimmer
helps her
buddy make
their choices.